Tesla just converted its old Model S and X assembly line into an Optimus robot factory

[Panther21]

Tesla has repurposed its former Model S and X production line at the Fremont factory into an automated assembly line for the Optimus Gen 3 humanoid robot, designed with a target annual capacity of 1 million units. Elon Musk has tempered expectations though, warning that initial production will be extremely slow because roughly 10,000 entirely new components needed for the robot have no mature supply chain yet, unlike the decades of established automotive parts sourcing Tesla can lean on for actual cars

Musk says genuine mass production won't happen until a dedicated Texas factory comes online in 2027, meaning the Fremont conversion right now is really about proving the manufacturing process works at all rather than actually hitting anywhere near that million unit target. Optimus V3 itself is built on the Gen 2 and Gen 3 platform, standing about 5 foot 8 and weighing 125 pounds, with hands featuring 22 degrees of freedom and 50 actuators, powered by Tesla's new AI5 chip offering roughly five times the memory bandwidth of the previous generation, alongside voice capability from Musk's own xAI Grok model

Tesla is not the only humanoid robot story moving fast this month. In China, Unitree Technology received approval for an IPO on Shanghai's STAR Market, with market expectations anchoring its valuation above 100 billion yuan, roughly 14.7 billion dollars, a genuinely large number for a company built specifically around humanoid and quadruped robots rather than a broader tech conglomerate. Competitors including Figure AI, Boston Dynamics and Agility Robotics are all running their own commercial pilots simultaneously, with Figure reportedly hitting one robot produced per hour at its BotQ factory and expanding its BMW deployment from one plant to two

Musk himself offered the clearest concession about where Tesla actually stands competitively on an earlier earnings call, admitting Optimus is not in usage in our factories in a material way as of the end of last year, a notably blunt admission given how much of Tesla's stock valuation premium reportedly rests on the humanoid robot bet paying off eventually. Consumer availability, if it happens at all in the near term, isn't expected before late 2027 at the earliest, with most analysts treating 2028 or 2029 as the more realistic window, and Musk's long stated eventual consumer price target sits at 20,000 to 30,000 dollars

Humanoid Robots on the Eve of Mass Production: Tesla's Optimus Line Takes Shape, Unitree's IPO Ignites China's A-Share Market - BigGo Financefinance.biggo.com