Tesla's toughest year

Tesla's Optimus robot. Photo: Reuters .

During a general meeting of Tesla's Autopilot and Optimus teams last month, Ashok Elluswamy, the company's Vice President of AI Software, foreshadowed a challenging year. "If you're working on Tesla's AI teams, next year will be the toughest year of your life," he said.

According to Business Insider , Elluswamy stated that 2026 will be a crucial and challenging year for the electric vehicle company. Employees need to prepare themselves to work at an unprecedented intensity to achieve the company's goals.

One attendee said the meeting was held as a “spiritual call” for the entire team. Senior leaders in the AI department spoke for nearly two hours, setting ambitious timelines for the production of the Optimus robot, along with targets for Tesla's Robotaxi service.

These two divisions are at the heart of one of Elon Musk's biggest promises. In his October earnings call, the CEO stated that Tesla plans to operate its Robotaxi service in 8-10 metropolitan areas by the end of 2025. The company also aims to have over 1,000 autonomous ride-hailing vehicles on the road.

Meanwhile, Tesla also aims to begin production of the Optimus robot around the end of 2026. “That production expansion will take some time to reach an annual production rate of 1 million units,” Musk stated during the meeting.

Earlier this month, Tesla shareholders approved a compensation package for Musk that could make him the world's first trillionaire. The package includes ambitious milestones, such as deploying one million self-driving cars and humanoid robots on the road.

Some compensation consultants believe Musk's compensation package is rare in the industry and may play a key role in keeping the billionaire focused on Tesla. In October, he even joked that he needed more stock because he "doesn't feel secure building an army of robots without having a strong enough influence over the company."

Tesla's Autopilot team works in the same office space as the Optimus team and has long been one of the company's top priorities. According to Business Insider, this team is largely isolated from other engineers, and their organizational chart is kept secret.

Elluswamy took over leadership of the Optimus team earlier this year, following the departure of Milan Kovac, the team's former vice president. Since then, Tesla has shifted the team's focus toward a more camera-based approach, similar to full-self-driving software training.

Former employees say the Autopilot team is known for its intense, long working hours. They also have regular weekly meetings with the CEO. Musk said in October that he regularly meets with the team every Friday, and sometimes these meetings last until midnight.