Tesla Optimus robot enters Fremont production as Musk touts visual learning

Tesla said the Tesla Optimus robot moved into production this quarter at its Fremont, California, factory, while the company prepares for full-year capital expenditure of more than $25 billion. The push into humanoid robotics comes as automotive gross margin excluding regulatory credits fell to 16.3% in the second quarter from 19.2%, which Tesla attributed to the absence of a prior warranty benefit and tariff relief.

Chief Executive Elon Musk told investors on Tesla’s second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, July 22, that Optimus is intended to perform general tasks by learning from observation rather than relying on a fixed set of programmed commands. Musk said online robot demonstrations are often pre-programmed or remotely operated, and he argued that Optimus would be the first humanoid robot capable of generalized work.

How does Tesla Optimus learn tasks?

Tesla says Optimus is being trained with video of people doing work, including footage from employees at its factories. The approach resembles the data strategy behind Full Self-Driving, Tesla’s driver-assistance software, in which large volumes of real-world behavior are used to train systems to improve over time.

Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s vice president of AI, said the company has access to data from factory workers performing tasks and that Optimus can learn by watching those actions. The company describes the model as one in which the robot observes, attempts the task, makes errors and improves through repeated training.

The production effort is separate from the software challenge. Musk said cars benefit from a long-established supplier base for components, while Optimus requires parts and production processes that do not have the same industrial precedent. He told investors that the manufacturing ramp becomes harder as the parts become more novel, adding that Tesla does not have an existing supply chain for the robot.

Karen Cattan, Tesla’s vice president of supply chain, said the company brings component production in-house when suitable outside suppliers are not available. Tesla is also arranging external supply for batteries and chips, with Samsung building a manufacturing site in Texas, Micron allocating memory chips to Tesla during a tight supply period and Panasonic investing in battery cell production to support the ramp.

Tesla has also ordered equipment for a chip development facility in Austin that Musk said would combine design, testing and production in one place. He said the setup is intended to shorten a process that typically takes months to weeks, and described Optimus as the hardest product Tesla has attempted to scale in manufacturing.

What did Tesla say about robotaxis?

Tesla also linked its robotics work to its robotaxi program, which uses vehicles designed to carry passengers without a driver behind the wheel. Elluswamy said Tesla has recorded more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised robotaxi driving in seven U.S. markets with no notable incidents.

The robotaxi program began about a year ago in Austin with safety monitors in the vehicles, according to Tesla. The company said it later moved to cars with no one on board and has expanded operations across Florida, Texas and the Bay Area. Elluswamy said the fleet is growing at double-digit rates week over week and that Tesla expects that pace to continue through year-end.

What else did Tesla report for the quarter?

• Tesla said Full Self-Driving has nearly 1.5 million paying customers globally.
• In North America, 55% of second-quarter deliveries had Full Self-Driving enabled at purchase.
• CFO Vaibhav Taneja said Tesla ended the quarter with its largest order backlog since 2023, and that Model Y set sales records in the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.
• Second-quarter deliveries rose sequentially by 60% in the Americas, 27% in Asia Pacific and 12% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to Tesla.
• Service margins, covering used cars, Supercharging, service centers and insurance, reached 14.1%, up from 9.2%.
• Free cash flow turned negative as capital expenditure more than doubled from the prior quarter.
• Tesla said Starlink satellite connectivity is being added to Cybercabs, and that the Tesla Semi is expected to receive autonomous driving capability by the end of this year or early next year.

This story draws on original reporting from PYMNTS.