Tesla’s CEO, Elon Muskclaims to be producing “truly useful” humanoid robots to run in its factories from next year.
The world’s richest man, who has a penchant for making ambitious claims on social media, also posted on his platform X (formerly Twitter) that he wants to expand into “mass production” mode by 2026 so that he can sell human-like robots to other companies.
Tesla plans to build a small number of truly useful humanoid robots for its own use next year, and then mass-produce them for other companies, hopefully as soon as 2026.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 22, 2024
Musk, who owns SpaceX and is also the president of SpaceX, has made bold claims in the past about when the robot, called Optimus, might be ready for commercial use. 2021The billionaire, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine at $250bn (£194bn), said he expected the mechanoid to be ready for use in Tesla factories next year.
Optimus is approximately 1.7 metres tall, weighs 56 kilograms and is designed to perform tasks that are “tedious, repetitive and dangerous”. The name is an allusion to Optimus Prime, the powerful and benevolent Autobot leader from the Transformers media franchise.
in Tesla At his 2021 AI Day event, where he unveiled the humanoid robot, then dubbed the “Teslabot,” Musk hosted a bizarre demonstration that featured actors in bodysuits breakdancing to a soundtrack of electronic dance music.
in Another AI Day Event Musk, who has argued that Tesla’s robotics business will one day be worth more than its cars, showed off a prototype robot that would take to the stage in 2022 and wave to the audience.
A video was released showing robots moving boxes, watering plants and moving metal rods inside an automaker’s factory.
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Musk has previously said his goal is to mass-produce the robots and make each one cost less than $20,000.
Optimus isn’t Musk’s only project that’s progressing slower than originally expected: In 2019, he said he was “very confident” that Tesla would have self-driving taxis on the roads the following year.
Earlier this year, Musk said the model would be unveiled on August 8, but the launch is now likely to be delayed after he said he had requested changes to the front of the car.
