Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday that the company’s third-generation Optimus humanoid robot is mobile but not yet ready for a public unveiling.
Tesla said in its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings release in late January that Gen 3 would be unveiled in the first quarter of 2026 — which ends this Tuesday.
“Optimus 3 is walking around, but needs some finishing touches before it’s ready to be shown,” Musk wrote on X in a reply to a post that recalled the company’s promise that the third generation would be unveiled in the first quarter of the year.
Musk’s phrasing indicates that the reveal has been delayed to later this year.
Mass Production
Tesla has described the third-generation Optimus as “our first design meant for mass production,” distinguishing it from the Gen 1 and Gen 2 prototypes that were built primarily for research and demonstration purposes.
On the Q4 earnings call in January, Musk said his long-term goal is to produce one million Optimus robots per year at Tesla‘s Fremont factory — the same facility where the company is ending production of the Model S sedan and Model X SUV to make room for robot manufacturing.
“It’s time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end with an honorable discharge,” Musk told investors on the call that followed the results.
However, Musk tempered expectations by saying that significant production volume would not begin until “probably the end of this year.”
The robots are currently deployed only within Tesla‘s own factories in a learning capacity — observing and practising basic tasks rather than performing meaningful production work, according to Musk.
Rising Stakes
Musk has placed an increasing share of Tesla‘s future on Optimus.
In September 2025, he said approximately 80% of Tesla’s value would eventually come from the robot programme, Bloomberg reported.
At the Abundance Summit on March 12, Musk called Optimus “by far the most advanced robot in the world. Nothing’s even close.”
The Gen 3 model features significantly upgraded hands with 22 degrees of freedom — double the 11 in Gen 2 — and 50 total actuators, enabling finer motor control.
Musk first teased Gen 3’s capabilities last July, writing on X that “Optimus 3 will have agility roughly equal to an agile human.”
On Christmas Eve, he described the robot as “an exquisite work of art.”
Engineering Strategy
Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delaney provided the most detailed public account of Tesla’s Optimus engineering approach following a management meeting in mid-March.
Tesla told Delaney that the hand and forearm have been the primary engineering focus — components the company has previously described as among the biggest technical challenges in the project.
The robot uses a combination of rotary and linear actuators, with Tesla manufacturing many of the key components in-house for intellectual property protection and scalability. More commoditised inputs such as cameras will be sourced externally.
On the software side, Tesla told Goldman that AI and model training are central to the programme, citing the robot’s ability to observe human motion and translate it into corresponding actions — a technique known as imitation learning.
Tesla‘s VP of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, told the Autopilot and Optimus teams in an internal meeting that 2026 would be “the most demanding year of their careers,” according to Business Insider.
Delaney estimated in an October research report that the humanoid robot market could reach $38 billion by 2035.
He projected Tesla‘s Optimus programme could add between $0.10 and $13.00 per share to earnings between 2030 and 2035, depending on production volumes and margin assumptions.
Financial Context
Tesla is more than doubling its capital expenditure to $20 billion this year, in large part to fund the transition toward robotics and autonomous vehicles.
The investment comes as Tesla‘s core auto business faces headwinds. The company reported its first-ever annual revenue decline in 2025, with automotive revenue falling 10% and GAAP earnings dropping 47% to $1.08 per share for the year.
Musk has targeted a consumer price of $20,000 to $30,000 per Optimus unit once production reaches scale.
Tesla has not disclosed when the first units will be available for external purchase, though Musk said in January 2026 that public sales would “probably” begin by the end of 2027.
