Tesla has officially launched mass production of the Optimus humanoid robot at its Fremont, California factory, where the manufacturing space on this production line was previously dedicated to electric vehicles. These off-the-line products mark the formal arrival of Tesla's first humanoid robots to reach mass-production standards, verifying that the current manufacturing processes are suitable for commercial products.
However, Musk said on the earnings call that because it is an entirely new product, the production ramp-up period will be slow and bumpy, and he set a target of achieving production of 20,000 units per week by the end of 2027.
Dragged down by heavy spending on forward-looking businesses such as artificial intelligence and the Optimus robot, Tesla's third-quarter net profit fell sharply by 43% year over year to 787 million USD. Total revenue in the same period was 28.04 billion USD, slightly lower than the same period last year, of which electric vehicle sales were flat at 20 billion USD, and vehicle deliveries were 486,532 units. Al
though solar and energy storage revenue fell 16% year over year to 2.8 billion USD due to tariff refunds, the services business, which includes FSD subscriptions, performed strongly, growing 33% year over year to 4.6 billion USD and setting a record gross profit of 734 million USD.
During executives' discussion of Full Self-Driving (FSD) progress, Tesla plans to include some early customer vehicles in its robotaxi fleet through a software update around the second quarter of next year. The simultaneous launch of the production line and the pressure on profits highlights the major bets and growing pains Tesla faces in its strategic transformation from a traditional automaker into a leader in artificial intelligence and robotics.