While reservation holders eagerly await positive news regarding the Tesla Cybertruck or Tesla Roadster, company CEO Elon Musk is more interested in building robots with artificial intelligence. No, that isn't a joke. At last year's AI Day, the company showed off the Tesla Bot, a concept robot that could potentially build cars or help with general tasks around the home. And when we say "concept," we mean it was a guy in a Tesla Bot costume who got up on stage and danced.
The idea sounds completely comical for the company that's dealt with self-described "production hell" for years, but the Tesla Bot is a very real project. According to a Reuters report, an insider source says Tesla is having internal meetings about robots with plans to deploy thousands of them (eventually millions) in its factories.
In addition, Tesla has posted several engineering jobs in the category of "Autopilot & Robotics" on its website. Musk says Tesla will reveal a prototype version of the robot on September 30, 2022, at the company's AI Day. We assume this prototype will be closer to production than a human wearing a suit. The Tesla Bot is currently being developed under the name project Optimus, a nod to the Autobot leader from Transformers.
Musk believes Optimus production could start in 2023, though we know full well not to trust Elon when he says something is coming next year. How many times has self-driving been just one more year away now? Musk famously claimed that Tesla would deploy one million robotaxis on the road by 2020, but zero have been delivered to date.
Tesla already uses robots to help assemble cars, though they are not humanoid like Project Optimus. The company envisions these new robots being used for dangerous tasks, though programming them for unexpected situations will be a difficult task. At a TED Talk, Musk even claimed the Tesla Bot could handle household chores like mowing the lawn, cooking dinner, or taking care of a child or an elderly person. Most AI experts believe Project Optimus is a distraction to make investors forget about existing projects like Cybertruck, Roadster, and Semi truck.
In our opinion, Project Optimus proves that Tesla is incapable of finishing a project before moving onto the next one. Rather than deliver on promises, the company constantly teases the next futuristic product that has no chance to reach production. We'll be far more impressed when Tesla finally gets a Cybertruck or Roadster out on the road than if the company manages to make a prototype robot walk on a stage (it's been done before). Some signs point to the Roadster entering production next year, but we remain dubious.