I would chalk this up as yet another unexpected announcement for my Bingo card for 2026: Tesla is going all in on its autonomous Optimus robot production. This shift is happening at the expense of its Model S and Model X EVs, as the company plans to end production of its higher-end vehicles this year.
Announced during Tesla’s earnings call earlier this week, CEO Elon Musk said, “It’s time to bring the Model S and X program to an end, because we’re moving into a future that’s based on autonomy.” The company is converting its Fremont factory to produce Optimus humanoid robots. Tesla’s new goal is to build 1 million Optimus robots, as the company plans to sell them to the public by the end of the year.
This sounds good in theory, but it is probably too ambitious. There’s been zero evidence that the Optimus robots can achieve anything remotely near what we saw in I, Robot, or even work at all. I guess they’re prepping an amazing demo for its forthcoming announcement to convince everyone otherwise.
Also, I always thought the Model S and X were dramatically overpriced, and vehicle sales over the years appear to reflect that. Last year, Tesla only sold just over 400,000 units of both vehicles, as the Model 3 and Y pushed over 1.5 million.
This news comes shortly after announcing its Full Self-Driving feature, going from a smaller monthly payment to a $99 per month subscription model. I would take Tesla’s most recent news as a sign that the new Tesla Roadster is never seeing the light of day at this point.
