Key Takeaways
- Tesla says there are two humanoid Optimus robots now handling factory tasks autonomously.
- The claim seemingly fulfills a promise made by CEO Elon Musk in April.
- Humanoid robots could potentially replace all human physical labor in some auto factories.
According to Tesla, two of its humanoid Optimus robots are “performing tasks in the factory autonomously,” according to an update the automaker posted on X. The company didn’t say what tasks the robots are handling, or which specific factory or factories the robots are operating in. Tesla operates several plants in the US alone — located in California, New York, Nevada, and Texas — as well as ones in China and Germany.
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The update appears to fulfill a promise made by CEO Elon Musk during an April results call. At the time, Musk said that Optimus would be capable of handling factory roles by the end of 2024, and could go on sale to other customers by the end of 2025. He even claimed that the robot was more valuable than anything else at Tesla, since once there was a “sentient humanoid robot” there would be “no meaningful limit to the size of the economy.”
In practice, it’s not clear how advanced Optimus has become. Tesla has periodically released videos showing the robot accomplishing some basic actions and movements, like sorting battery cells or picking up eggs, but there’s a leap from that to assembling cars or battery packs. The company is actively hiring AI, computer vision, motion planning, control, mechanical, and general software engineers to help push the product forward. It should also be noted Tesla included the bit of information in a post designed to sway shareholders to vote in favor of reinstating Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package after it was thrown out by a Delware judge in January. Musk has threatened to spin out Tesla’s AI work into a separate company if his demands aren’t met.
Competition in the robot industry
Robots have of course been involved in automaking for decades, but usually in the form of specialized arms for tasks like welding. Recent advances have made humanoid models a plausible prospect, and not just for Tesla, either. In January 2024, Germany’s BMW signed a deal with a startup called Figure to trial humanoid robots in a South Carolina factory, according to Business Insider. Chinese automakers Dongfeng and Nio are likewise investing in humanoids, but from a firm called Ubtech.
Humanoid designs are complicated, since simply getting a robot to walk while carrying a load can be difficult. The reward however is a general-purpose robot that can (theoretically) handle a lot of physical labor currently done by humans — Ubtech’s Walker S robot can perform quality checks, test seat belts, and install emblems. If companies like Tesla are successful, future factories could be completely automated, bringing production costs down at the expense of putting even more human laborers out of work.
What is going on with Tesla right now?
Layoffs, project cancellations, Cybertruck recall and a bad fiscal quarter. Tesla once looked invincible, now it looks merely mortal.
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