Tesla’s stock experienced an uptick on Monday, boosted by Elon Musk’s ongoing promotion of the company’s humanoid robots. Musk shared on X that Tesla aims to have “genuinely useful humanoid robots” in limited production for internal use by next year and hopes to ramp up high production for external companies by 2026.
During Tesla’s April annual meeting for shareholders, Musk had previously mentioned plans to move the Optimus robot into limited production by 2025, estimating over 1,000 robots operational at Tesla by year’s end. Currently, two robots are in use on the factory floor, although the specific tasks they perform remain undisclosed.
Musk had floated the idea that the robots could potentially add $20 trillion to Tesla’s market value. However, the robots are not anticipated to hit the market until late 2025, with expected retail prices ranging from $20,000 to $30,000.
There is ambiguity regarding what Musk envisions as “genuinely useful” capabilities for the robots. Previous demonstrations have drawn skepticism, including an incident in May when Tesla faced criticism for a video showing an Optimus folding a shirt, which turned out to be controlled by an off-screen operator.
This is not the first instance of Tesla using questionable methods to showcase the robots, with the debut of the Optimus project in 2021 featuring a person dancing in a robot costume as a promotional tactic.
Analysts express skepticism about Tesla’s prospects in this domain. Roth MKM analyst Craig Irwin noted on Yahoo Finance that competing with established firms like Boston Dynamics will be challenging, stating, “What they’ve shown us is really state of the art for 2014.”
In addition to Boston Dynamics, Tesla will be competing with Honda in Japan, as well as Apptronik. Chinese manufacturers Dongfeng Motor and Nio are testing humanoid robots from UBTech Robotics in their production lines, while BMW has been utilizing Figure’s humanoid robots in its operations since January.
Musk’s comments contributed to a more than 3% rise in Tesla’s stock on Monday. Year-to-date, shares remain relatively stable after a significant rebound over the last two months. Tesla is set to report its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, where Musk is expected to provide updates on the long-awaited robotaxi project.