In May, Musk told CNBC he planned to place Optimus robots in Tesla factories by the end of 2025.
“We expect to have thousands of Optimus robots working in Tesla factories by the end of this year, beginning this fall,” Musk said. “And we expect to scale Optimus up faster than any product, I think, in history, to get to millions of units per year as soon as possible.”
He said Tesla could produce one million units by 2030.
“I think we feel confident in getting to one million units per year in less than five years, maybe four years. So by 2030, I feel confident in predicting one million Optimus units per year — it might be 2029,” he said.
Tesla’s Q1 2025 update said the company is “on track” for its Optimus builds on its Fremont pilot production line.
However, Chris Walti, the former team lead for Tesla’s robot, told Business Insider that humanoid robots may not be an ideal fit in factories.
“It’s not a useful form factor. Most of the work that has to be done in industry is highly repetitive tasks where velocity is key,” Walti said.
