Tesla has started producing its long-awaited humanoid robot, Optimus, at its Fremont factory, the company announced in its quarterly earnings report.
“The robots coming from this line are the first production-quality robots we have made,” Tesla said, saying the current manufacturing process is “suitable for a commercial product.”
“There are still some things we need to refine regarding the design, because you need to deliver a robot that is safe, reliable and has a long lifespan,” CEO Elon Musk said during Tesla’s third-quarter earnings conference call. “It can’t wear out after a month.”
Musk said it would take at least a year for the company to increase Optimus production to 20,000 units per week in Fremont. It said it plans to start shipping Optimus to customers late next year.
Musk tempered expectations for how quickly Tesla will be able to ramp up production of Optimus because it is a “radically new product.” He said the early stages of production would be “somewhat bumpy” because “there are about 10,000 things to do” to build the robot. One of the big challenges mentioned by Musk is building robot hands.
Musk said Tesla was building an “Optimus Academy,” where robots would train on tasks and generate data to improve the AI models that power them. The company also plans to install its next-generation AI5 chip in Optimus in April, which will give the robots more computing power and be a “big game changer in intelligence,” Musk said.
The latest version of Optimus has not been revealed. Musk said he plans to release a video of Optimus within the next month or two. He previously said Tesla was keeping the robot secret to prevent competitors from copying its design.
Tesla stopped producing the Model S and Model A second line under construction in Austin is expected to have an annual capacity of 10 million robots.
Tesla competes in a crowded humanoid market. Agility Robotics, which plans to go public, has deployed its Digit robot at nine customer sites, while Figure AI has announced deployments at logistics and distribution centers this year. Sunday Robotics, 1X and Weave Robotics are preparing to ship robots into homes this fall.
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