Tesla's humanoid robot, Optimus, has begun initial production in Fremont, but there is still a significant gap to bridge before mass delivery. Musk pointed out that the hand is the most challenging hardware component for the robot, requiring improvements in specialized gears, finger durability, tactile sensor protection, and fine grasping capabilities. Simultaneously, the onboard AI and software are not yet mature enough to stably execute open-ended, non-pre-programmed tasks. Tesla plans to demonstrate these capabilities in the next one to two months and aims to integrate the AI5 chip into Optimus around April 2027. Musk claims that AI5's computing power is approximately 10 times that of AI4, but actual robot performance still depends on hardware-software synergy and real-world task validation. Regarding production, Tesla has begun initial production in Fremont, planning to manufacture approximately 10,000 to 20,000 robots for practice and training; achieving an annualized production rate of 20,000 units per week is expected to take at least another year, or even longer. The company aims to deliver to external customers around the end of 2027, but hand reliability, AI generalization capabilities, and production line ramp-up remain major uncertainties.
