Elon Musk says humanoid robots will be working for Tesla by next year.
The CEO made the announcement on X, which generated a lot of interest among his followers.
“Tesla will be producing a small number of really useful humanoid robots for our own internal use next year, and then hopefully mass producing them for other companies in 2026,” Musk said.
However, while the news has caused quite a stir online, the timeline is actually a slight delay from the previous announcement, which was made just three months ago in April.
At the time, Musk said on an earnings call with investors that the robot, called Optimus, could be ready by the end of 2024. “We can do the light factory tasks in the lab, and we think Optimus will be in limited production in our factories doing useful work by the end of the year,” he said.
But he acknowledged that these predictions were “mere speculation.”
Since the concept was unveiled at Tesla’s AI Day in 2021, accompanied by a humanoid robot-like figure in a white suit, and mocked by some, progress has been somewhat choppy, though interest has been predictably high. At AI Day 2022, Optimus made an appearance, but he was unable to walk unassisted, despite Musk’s claims that it could sell a billion units and spark a “fundamental transformation of civilization.”
By May 2023, Optimus had demonstrated much more advanced mobility, with Musk showing a video at Tesla’s shareholder meeting depicting the robot walking and picking up objects.
An update followed in December 2023, and earlier this year Optimus Gen 2 was photographed folding laundry, with lead engineer Milan Kovac claiming that 2023 had been a “great year” for robots, praising the company’s progress in developing dexterity, mobility and autonomous capabilities.
At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in early July, Optimus stood motionless in a glass case, yet attracted attention and raised expectations.
It’s unclear what tasks Tesla will assign the robot or what other companies may be interested in using it, but we do know how big it will be (it’ll be 5 feet 11 inches tall and weigh 121 pounds) and that its initial price will likely be between $25,000 and $30,000.
Despite the uncertainty, Musk has remained bullish on Optimus’ potential.
Earlier this year, he said: “If you have sentient humanoid robots that can navigate the real world and perform tasks on demand, there’s no meaningful limit to the scale of the economy. That’s what’s going to happen, and I think Tesla is best positioned of any humanoid robot manufacturer to be able to mass produce them.”
But Musk has a history of making outlandish claims and missing deadlines: In 2015, he claimed Tesla cars would be fully self-driving by 2018, but six years later, the company is still a long way from achieving that goal.
And the company’s long-awaited announcement of self-driving taxis — a key pillar of its new focus on automation and AI — was originally scheduled for Aug. 8 but has already been postponed to October.
