Tesla Starts Early Production of Optimus Humanoid Robot, Musk Targets Customer Deliveries by End of 2027
Tesla announces Optimus has entered early production, aiming for 20,000 units per week within a year and customer deliveries by late 2027.
US electric vehicle and AI company Tesla stated on October 21 that its humanoid robot, Optimus, has entered early production at its Fremont factory in California. This marks the product's formal transition from demonstration prototypes to actual manufacturing. The company noted that the robots currently coming off the line are the first "production-quality" versions, and existing processes are sufficient to support commercial product manufacturing.
CEO Elon Musk revealed during the earnings call that Optimus still requires design adjustments, focusing on safety, reliability, and lifespan. He emphasized that this is a "completely new category," and initial mass production will inevitably face fluctuations as every link from supply chain to mechanical design must align simultaneously. Musk indicated that it will take at least another year for Tesla to ramp up Fremont's capacity to 20,000 units per week, equivalent to an annualized capacity of approximately 1.04 million units. If development and production progress smoothly, Tesla expects to begin delivering Optimus to customers by the end of 2027.
Regarding initial use cases, Musk believes industrial applications will be the first to adopt the technology, such as dangerous, highly repetitive, or 24/7 operations. Additionally, Tesla is establishing an "Optimus Academy" where robots accumulate data through task execution to improve the underlying AI models; the next-generation AI5 chip is expected to be integrated into Optimus in April 2027 to enhance computing power. To free up space, Tesla had already stopped producing Model S and Model X vehicles at Fremont earlier this year. A planned second production line in Austin aims for an annual capacity of up to 10 million units.