Elon Musk Says His Optimus Robot Is So Dope That People Will Forget Tesla Ever Made Cars

"Amid abysmal car sales that continue to plummet worldwide and major regulatory hurdles plaguing the company's driver assistance software, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is desperately looking to reinvent the company. His newfound obsession has been Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot, an invention that he says will transform the EV maker into a $25 trillion robotics company. He's promised that Optimus will account for the vast majority of the company's already extremely inflated value - a claim he's now taking to an extraordinary new extreme. Responding to a clip of entrepreneur and investor Jason Calacanis claiming during a recent summit that "nobody will remember that Tesla ever made a car" and that "they will only remember" the company building "a billion" Optimus robots, Musk had a sweeping prediction. "Probably true," he replied."

"As part of Musk's $1 trillion pay package, the company will need to deploy one million Optimus robots, a goal the mercurial CEO has promised could be achieved by 2030. Reality, however, has plenty of catching up to do. The company has encountered major technical snags in its efforts to build out production lines and reportedly failed to keep up with its own stated goal of building 5,000 Optimus robots last year."

"The company's demos have also fallen far short of expectations, with one robot struggling to walk down a clear office hallway. Tesla is also still heavily relying on teleoperators, suggesting that autonomous operation without the need for a human pilot could still be a long way out."

Tesla faces plunging global car sales and regulatory problems with its driver assistance software, prompting CEO Elon Musk to pursue the Optimus humanoid robot as a new corporate focus. Musk has claimed Optimus could transform Tesla into a $25 trillion robotics company and suggested the robots could eclipse the automaker's legacy. As part of Musk's $1 trillion pay package, Tesla must deploy one million Optimus units, with Musk targeting 2030. Development has suffered technical snags, missed internal production goals, and underwhelming demos. The company relied heavily on teleoperators, indicating fully autonomous operation remains distant. Ambitious promises contrast with current engineering and manufacturing realities.

Read at Futurism