Here's what Elon Musk said about Tesla robotaxi and Optimus during his media blitz

• During a media frenzy, Elon Musk stated that Tesla plans to introduce robotaxis in June employing a "cautious" strategy.
• Musk targets swift production of the Optimus robot, forecasting up to one million units annually by 2030.
• The investor reaction continues to be lackluster, and Musk has previously proven incorrect with his lofty timeframes.

Elon Musk embarked on an extensive media tour to unveil new robotics standards and reaffirm his previous statements. his commitment to Tesla.

The Tesla chief executive had a short conversation with Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, during the Microsoft Build event on Monday. He also participated remotely in Bloomberg's Qatar Economic Forum and was featured on CNBC two times on Tuesday.

At the Qatar Economic Forum, Musk said he is committed to leading Tesla for at least five more years, and said robotaxis will be implemented in June as originally scheduled.

"Yes, no doubt about that at all," Musk said during a video call when asked about his leadership.

Tesla's stock price stayed relatively stable following the market close on Tuesday, yet it showed an upturn in May when contrasted with earlier months after Musk indicated his stance. reduce his participation with DOGE On April 22nd, however, Tesla's stock price remains lower for the year 2025, continuing to reflect decreases in both revenue and earnings reported in the first quarter.

Tesla's representatives did not reply to Business Insider’s request for comment.

The key points regarding robotics from Musk's interviews are as follows.

A 'prudent' approach

Musk was asked about Tesla's Full Self-Driving Supervised software operating through a red light during A test drive by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts and stressed the slow rollout of robotaxis for safety reasons

"I think it's prudent for us to start with a small number, confirm that things are going well, and then scale it up proportionate to how well we see it's doing," Musk told CNBC host David Faber.

Musk mentioned that they are currently testing robotaxis operating "around the clock with drivers inside the vehicles" and these tests require "virtually no input from the operators." However, he advocates for being cautious as this will mark "the initial deployment of fully autonomous driving without direct supervision."

Musk stated, "Let’s make a conscious decision to proceed gradually." He continued, "We have the option to launch around 1,000 or even up to 10,000 right from the beginning, yet I believe that wouldn’t be wise. Thus, we plan to initiate with approximately ten per week, subsequently escalating this number weekly to about twenty, thirty, forty."

Musk stated that they aim to deploy around 1,000 autonomous vehicles in Austin within several months as part of their initial rollout phase, with plans later extending this service to additional locations such as Los Angeles and San Antonio.

Though Musk did not directly address BI's reporting that the FDS made a critical error, he said Tesla's robotaxis will be geo-fenced To choose particular regions within Austin. Similarly, Alphabet's Waymo confines its self-driving vehicles to designated areas.

"It's not going to take intersections unless we are highly confident," Musk told Faber. "Or it will just take a route around that intersection."

The future of Optimus

Musk is expecting to scale up the use of humanoid robots quickly.

"We expect to have thousands of Optimus robots working in Tesla factories by the end of this year, beginning this fall," Musk told Faber on CNBC, "And we expect to scale Optimus up faster than any product, I think, in history, to get to millions of units per year as soon as possible."

"I think we feel confident in getting to one million units per year in less than five years, maybe four years. So by 2030, I feel confident in predicting one million Optimus units per year — it might be 2029," Musk added.

Musk told Faber that Optimus will also be the "biggest product ever" with "insatiable" demand because "everyone" would want one.

"It's going to take a lot of compute resources and it'll take time," said Musk when asked what it would take to train a robot, "I think there's certain threshold breakthroughs that we think we can achieve."

In a short conversation with Microsoft CEO Nadella, Musk also reiterated that all kinds of robotics, including robotaxis and the humanoid robot Optimus, need to be "grounded in reality."

"Just like we discussed with the car needing safe and proper operation, the humanoid robot Optimus should also execute the tasks assigned to it," Musk said to Nadella.

The market reacts

The media frenzy surrounding Musk did not elicit strong enthusiasm among investors. By the end of trading on Tuesday, Tesla’s stock price had increased by approximately 0.5%, though this gain started to diminish later in the evening session.

For years, Musk has hinted at his plans to introduce humanoid robots to the public. By 2021, he had begun teasing these ideas more frequently. actor performing dance in a full-body costume provided us with our initial glimpse of Optimus, which is also called Tesla Bot. By 2022, a basic version was already moving around during the firm's AI Day presentation.

In October 2024, Hasan Chowdhury of Business Insider reported about Tesla's robotics technology has progressed significantly since its inception. According to Chowdhury, during last year’s Tesla Robotaxi event, the Optimus prototypes engaged in rock-paper-scissors games with the crowd, served beverages, and performed dances. However, some participants felt that the robots appeared somewhat rudimentary. controlled by human operators .

As far as the timeline goes, Musk said in a post on X last July that Tesla would have "genuinely useful humanoid robots in low production for Tesla internal use next year," and larger-scale production enabling sales to other companies by 2026. Now, midway through 2025, large-scale production has not yet been announced, but in the company's Q1 2025 Update letter , Tesla said it is "on track" for its builds of Optimus on its Fremont pilot production line in 2025, "with wider deployment of bots doing useful work across our factories."

Musk has been wrong about timelines before. In 2018, he acknowledged that he tends to be overly optimistic about when his creations will come to market. In some instances, consumers are still waiting for his promises to come to fruition.

In 2019, Musk stated that Tesla would deploy more than one million robotaxis By the end of 2020, this was supposed to happen; however, that has not occurred yet. The anticipated launch of its robotaxi service In Austin later this year, Tesla takes a small step closer to achieving that objective.

Nevertheless, if Tesla’s robotics unit succeeds in delivering everything it has pledged with Optimus and its various applications, it would significantly benefit both the company and its shareholders. Tesla supporter and Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives has predicted That robotaxis will revolutionize things for Tesla, with an estimation that the company might reach a valuation of $2 trillion within the next couple of years. Ives mentioned this information. CNBC On Tuesday, he stated that approximately 90% of Tesla's potential future worth hinges on its self-driving car technology and robotics sector.

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