Elon Musk says Optimus, Tesla's humanoid robot, and the Cybercab will be "the vast majority of Tesla's value." He wrote it in a late-night reply on X on Saturday, October 17, days before Tesla's October 21 earnings call. Here is the whole story in about three minutes.
What is Optimus?
Optimus is a humanoid robot Tesla is building to handle routine, repetitive or dangerous physical work. The company hopes it will help in factories and warehouses and eventually in homes, but it is still in development and has not reached wide commercial deployment.
It was first shown on stage at AI Day on 30 September 2022, where a prototype walked, waved and danced. Robotics experts at the time praised how fast the team had built it, but many were unimpressed by the design, and one said the demonstrated behaviors were less impressive than Honda's Asimo from 20 years earlier. One expert noted the walking system used trajectory optimization rather than machine learning, which would need redoing for long-term operation. That is a 2022 verdict on a 2022 prototype, so treat it as history, not a review of today's robot.
Why is everyone talking about it now?
Two things landed together. Musk's X post said only "super intelligence, robots, solar power and mass to space" can scale "to incredible size" economically. He did not explain what he meant by "K2" or offer figures for his value claim. He was replying to a post about the new Roadster, and he added that the car is "super cool, so we're doing it anyway".
The Roadster itself has an Optimus link. Tesla's Lars Moravy said its rear wing uses leg actuators developed for the robot. The car was unveiled on 15 October, with production scheduled to begin in 2028.
Then there is the earnings call. According to TeslaNorth's account of Tesla's investor question list, among the most popular questions were how much each Optimus costs to build, and how the Cybercab fleet grows beyond Austin.
What does it need to run?
A robot that sees and decides needs serious chips and memory. Tesla has not named the suppliers behind Optimus in anything we reviewed, and some investor commentary has guessed at them, so we're leaving those names out until Tesla or the companies confirm them.
What is still unknown?
A lot. Tesla has not given, in anything we reviewed, a price, a production date or a unit cost for Optimus. By TeslaNorth's account, the cost question sits on the investor list, unanswered for now. We also don't know how many robots work in Tesla (TSLA) factories today, or what they do all day.
Musk's value claim is an opinion, not a forecast with numbers behind it. And the Cybercab, a two-seat car with no steering wheel or pedals, still faces technological, safety and regulatory hurdles, even with Robotaxi service already running in Austin.
What happens next?
Watch the October 21 earnings call for any hard Optimus numbers: cost, timing, factory use. Musk has also left the door open on a Tesla and SpaceX merger, saying at the All-In Summit that "you can imagine what action one might take when there's so much close collaboration". He did not address it in this latest reply.
Would you trust a humanoid robot in your home, and how much would you pay for one?
The WattsUpNext take: Tesla's humanoid robot, Optimus, is being sold as most of the company's future value, yet the public still has no price, date or cost. Call on Tuesday for numbers, not adjectives.
That's wattsup, and here's wattsnext: Nvidia says RTX Spark laptops start at $2,399, with up to 128GB memory
Sources
- 1.Elon Musk: Optimus, Cybercab Will Be Most of Tesla's Value · TeslaNorth.com
- 2.Tesla · JFeed
- 3.Elon Musk Says Optimus Is Tesla's Most Important Product. These 3 Suppliers Get Paid Before Tesla Does. · Yahoo Finance
- 4.What Robotics Experts Think of Tesla’s Optimus Robot · IEEE Spectrum
Reported by the WattsUpNext desk from the sources linked below. Spot an error? Tell us at corrections@wattsupnext.com.
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