Elon Musk says Tesla will have humanoid robots working on production lines by next year.
The robots will be involved in “low production” at the company, CEO Musk said on Monday, months after he announced a rollout by the end of 2024.
And the automaker will have the robots “hopefully” involved in high production for other companies in 2026, Musk said in a post on social media platform X.
Musk had said in April that the Tesla robot, called Optimus, would be able to perform tasks in factories by the end of this year and could be ready for sale as soon as the end of 2025.
Humanoid robots have been in development for several years by Japan’s Honda and Hyundai Motor’s Boston Dynamics. Companies are betting on them to meet potential labour shortages and perform repetitive tasks that could be dangerous or tedious such as logistics, warehousing and manufacturing.
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Musk has a history of failing to fulfill bold promises to Wall Street. In 2019, he told investors that Tesla would be operating a network of “robotaxi” autonomous cars by 2020.
Last week, he signalled that an unveiling of the robotaxi would take more time, saying he requested “an important design change” to the front of the vehicle.
Tesla put out the first generation of its Optimus robot, dubbed Bumblebee, in September 2022. This year, the company posted a video of a second generation of the bipedal robot folding a T-shirt at the firm’s facility.
Musk has in recent months pivoted to focus on artificial intelligence, autonomous driving software, robotaxis and the Optimus robot amid tapering demand for EVs, which make up more than 80% of Tesla’s quarterly revenue.
Tesla is set to report its second-quarter results on Tuesday, with Wall Street expecting margins to hit a more than five-year low, but focus will also be on Musk’s ambitious plans for robotaxis and AI products. Tesla shares were up about 1% premarket on Monday.
- Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara
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