CEO of Tesla, Elon MuskThe company claims it will produce “genuinely useful” humanoid robots to start working in its factories next year.
The world’s richest person, who has a penchant for making wildly ambitious claims on social media, posted on his X platform, formerly known as Twitter, that he also hopes to expand into “high production” mode to make humanoid robots available for sale to other companies in 2026.
Tesla will have humanoid robots that are really useful in low-production for internal Tesla use next year, and hopefully high-production for other companies in 2026.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 22, 2024
Musk, the owner of X and CEO of SpaceX, had previously made bold statements about when the robot, called Optimus, would be ready for commercial use. In 2021The billionaire, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine to be worth $250bn (£194bn), said he expected the robot to be ready for use in Tesla factories next year.
Optimus stands approximately 1.7 metres tall and weighs 56 kg, and is designed to do “dull, repetitive, and dangerous” work. The name is a reference to Optimus Prime, the powerful and benevolent leader of the Autobots in the Transformers media franchise.
in Tesla At an AI Day event in 2021 to launch the humanoid robot, then called the “Tesla Robot,” Musk hosted a bizarre show featuring an actor in a skintight suit who began dancing to electronic dance music.
in Another event on AI Day In 2022, Musk — who has claimed that Tesla’s robotics business will one day be worth more than its cars — showed off a prototype of the robot that walked on stage and waved to the audience.
Video showed the robot carrying a crate, watering plants and moving metal rods at the automaker’s factory.
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Musk has previously said his goal is to mass-produce the robots and have them cost less than $20,000 each.
But Project Optimus isn’t the only project that’s lagging behind Musk’s initial expectations. In 2019, Musk said he was “very confident” that Tesla would have self-driving taxis on the road the following year.
Earlier this year, he said the model would be unveiled on August 8, but that looks likely to be delayed after Musk said he requested a change to the front of the car.
