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Tesla is behind schedule in developing its Optimus robot. Photo: NBC News . |
Tesla’s commitment to produce more than a million Optimus humanoid robots a year by the end of the decade has become shaky, with the company facing serious bottlenecks that are slowing production and threatening to even hit a more modest 2025 target.
According to The Information, Tesla is lagging far behind the pace needed to meet Elon Musk's goal of producing 5,000 Optimus robots this year, suggesting the company will have to make major changes to meet the CEO's demands.
Musk has said the bipedal robot could help boost Tesla’s already astronomical valuation to a whopping $25 trillion , a figure that’s becoming increasingly difficult to reach as the company continues to struggle and profits plummet. The Tipranks report cites production bottlenecks, high costs, and scaling as challenges.
Some early warning signs were there. In June, Tesla lost the head of its Optimus division, former Vice President of Engineering Milan Kovac, leaving a major void in the project’s leadership team.
According to The Information, technical issues with the Optimus robot hand have been a focus for Elon Musk since he left the White House. Suppliers have complained that the joint is prone to overheating, the hand mechanism lacks durability, and the battery doesn't last long, leaving the robot less than 50 percent as efficient as a human worker.
Meanwhile, flexible hand movement is an extremely important factor for this technology, allowing the Optimus robot to perform a variety of tasks. Sources say Tesla has not yet been able to speed up production of the above part, while the Optimus robots are almost complete. Robots lacking hands and lower forearms continue to pile up at Tesla's factory.
On the other hand, if companies are sloppy about the quality of the robots they produce, they risk releasing hardware that doesn’t meet customer expectations, which happened during Tesla’s rapid production run, damaging the reputation of the entire program.
Tesla is also losing key employees and struggling to protect its intellectual property. Shortly after Kovac left, Tesla sued a robotics startup co-founded by a former Optimus team member, alleging theft of trade secrets related to accelerating the production of robotic hands.
As a result, employees working in the robot production process at Tesla must hand over their phones and go through multiple layers of security to enter the work area, The Information reported.
Tesla has also failed to deliver on its promises in a more important area. The company recently reported a 16% decline in auto sales, its biggest in more than a decade. With tax incentives and regulatory credits for the auto industry slowly being phased out, Musk acknowledged that the company faces “a few tough quarters.”
Tesla rolled out its robotaxi concept to a few fans or pre-registered shareholders earlier this month, but early warning signs suggest the automaker is still far from delivering on Elon Musk’s promise to help people make money with the vehicle.
There is still much skepticism about whether the robotics sector will pay off. For one thing, some critics point out that developing a humanoid robot to do factory work that doesn’t typically require much flexibility or dexterity seems like a huge expense.
Source: https://znews.vn/tham-vong-cua-tesla-do-be-post1571752.html
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