Amid profit slump and layoffs, Musk says Tesla may start selling humanoid robot 'Optimus' by next year
Tesla humanoid robot 'Optimus
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk on Tuesday (Apr 23) said that the company may be ready to sell its humanoid robot as early as the end of next year.
Humanoid robot and Tesla
The Tesla humanoid robot, called Optimus, is still in the lab. However, speaking to investors on a conference call, Musk on Tuesday (April 23) said that his guess is that Optimus will be able to perform tasks in the factory by the end of this year, reports Reuters.
Musk, referring to his company's artificial intelligence abilities, told investors, "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."
Earlier, the billionaire had said that the saleof the robot could become a larger part of Tesla's business than other segments, including car manufacturing.
His company introduced the first generation of its Optimus robot, called Bumblebee, back in 2022.
Interestingly, Tesla is not the only company developing humanoid robots. As per Reuters, the robots have been in development for several years by Japan's Honda and Hyundai Motor's Boston Dynamics.
Many companies are betting on these humanoid robots to fulfil potential labour shortages and perform repetitive tasks that could be dangerous or tedious in industries such as logistics, warehousing, retail, and manufacturing.
Tesla's first-quarter earnings plunge
Also on Tuesday, Tesla announced a big drop in its quarterly profits. As per AFP, the electric vehicle (EV) maker reported profits of $1.1 billion, down 55 per cent from the year-ago quarter on revenues of $21.3 billion, down nine per cent as the company described EV sales as "under pressure."
However, despite this, Tesla's shares rocketed up more than 11 per cent in after-hours trading after the company vowed to "accelerate" new more affordable autos.
Tesla layoffs
The earning plunge comes as Tesla has revealed plans to lay off 6,020 employees. Just last week, Tesla boss Musk in a memo announced that he had made "the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by more than 10 per cent globally".
In an internal email, Musk, as reported by Elektrek, wrote: "There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done. This will enable us to be lean, innovative, and hungry for the next growth phase cycle."
(With inputs from agencies)
