Tesla's Optimus Robot Faces Production Setbacks, Report Says

Tesla is reportedly struggling to scale up production of its humanoid robot, Optimus, falling well short of the ambitious manufacturing targets the company has set for the project, according to a report from The Information.

The report states that Tesla produced only "several hundred robots a week" during the past month, an output far below the company's stated goal of eventually reaching 20,000 Optimus units per week. Tesla began pursuing that higher output earlier this year after repurposing production lines previously used to build its Model S and Model X sedans, converting them instead for Optimus manufacturing.

According to the report, this strategy of retooling existing vehicle-assembly infrastructure for a fundamentally different kind of product has introduced a series of manufacturing complications. The report describes these as "issues" without detailing their exact scope, but the framing suggests that adapting car-production lines to build a walking, articulated humanoid robot has proven more difficult in practice than anticipated.

A Long-Stated Ambition

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has repeatedly described Optimus as a potentially transformative product for the company, at times suggesting it could eventually surpass Tesla's automotive business in significance. Reaching tens of thousands of units per week would represent a dramatic leap from current output levels, requiring a degree of manufacturing maturity that mass-produced consumer robotics has not yet achieved industry-wide.

The gap between "several hundred" units a week and a 20,000-per-week target underscores how early-stage the Optimus production ramp remains. Repurposing car-assembly lines built for a different manufacturing process is one path Tesla has chosen, rather than building dedicated robot-only facilities from scratch, and the reported difficulties suggest that transition is still a work in progress.

The report does not specify a revised timeline for Tesla to reach its production goals, nor does it detail which specific components or stages of assembly are causing the reported snags. Tesla has not issued its own public update addressing the figures cited in the report.