🎈 Up Big Today: Find today's biggest gainers (some over 50%!) with our free screenerTry Stock Screener

Tesla could start selling Optimus robots by the end of next year, Musk says

Published 2024/04/24, 02:20
Updated 2024/04/24, 02:23
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A "Tesla Bot" humanoid robot prototyp. Tesla Inc/Handout
MSFT
-
TSLA
-

By Akash Sriram

(Reuters) - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)'s humanoid robot is still in the lab, but it may be ready to sell as soon as the end of next year, chief executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday.

Several companies have been betting on humanoid robots to meet potential labor shortages and perform repetitive tasks that could be dangerous or tedious in industries such as logistics, warehousing, retail and manufacturing.

Musk told investors on a conference call that he guessed the Tesla robot, called Optimus, would be able to perform tasks in the factory by the end of this year.

Humanoid robots have been in development for several years by Japan's Honda and Hyundai Motor's Boston Dynamics. 

This year, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nvidia-backed startup Figure said it had signed a partnership with German automaker BMW (ETR:BMWG) to deploy humanoid robots in the car maker's facility in the United States.

Billionaire Musk has said before that robot sales could become a larger part of the Tesla business than other segments, including car manufacturing.

"I think Tesla is best positioned of any humanoid robot maker to be able to reach volume production with efficient inference on the robot itself," Musk said on the Tuesday call, referring to the artificial intelligence abilities.

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.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A

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.

Figure's video released in February of its 01 robot shows it making coffee, while Boston Dynamics last week unveiled an electric platform for its Atlas humanoid robot, which was seen twisting and turning from a lying down state to standing and walking.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.