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Physical AIby Santi
ESEN
HumanoidInternal systemCurrent generation

Tesla Optimus

Tesla’s general-purpose humanoid. This sheet describes the production version Tesla began building in Fremont (California) in the third quarter of 2026; Tesla called its first design meant for mass production “Gen 3”, but has not published its specifications. According to Tesla, the first units are used internally to collect training data, and Elon Musk places the first deliveries to outside companies around the end of 2027.

Year
2022
Origin
United States
Autonomy
L1 · Assisted
Dataset review
2026-11 · Methodology & evidence levels

What it does, and on what evidence

Five mandatory fields on every sheet. A product page proves neither commercial availability nor full autonomy: here we separate what has been documented from what is announced.

1 · Task
According to Tesla, a general-purpose, autonomous humanoid. Musk expects its first customers to use it for dangerous, repetitive industrial tasks, around the clock. The household tasks he listed in 2024 (babysitting, walking the dog, mowing the lawn, getting the groceries) are goals, not demonstrated capabilities.
2 · Autonomy by task

Does on its own

Not documented with data. At the “We, Robot” event (October 2024) the prototypes walked without external control, according to people cited by Bloomberg. In October 2026 Musk acknowledged that “quite a lot of work” remains on the AI and the robot for it to be useful in open-ended tasks, and promised a video of “not preprogrammed” tasks within one or two months.

A person steps in

At “We, Robot”, employees stationed elsewhere remotely controlled many of the interactions with attendees (serving drinks, talking), according to Bloomberg; one robot said it was “assisted by a human”. Tesla has not published how the production units are supervised or teleoperated.[Bloomberg, 2024][Singju Post, 2026]

3 · Strongest evidence

Demonstration2024-10-10

Interactive public demonstration at “We, Robot” (2024-10-10), with part of the interactions teleoperated. Tesla has not documented productive work by Optimus: according to its Q2 2026 letter, the first units go to its “Optimus Academy” to collect data and develop functionality, and in October 2026 it only reported the start of production in Fremont.[Bloomberg, 2024][Tesla, 2026][Tesla, 2026]

4 · Access
Internal system

Not sold or leased to third parties. According to Musk (earnings call of 2026-10-21), deliveries to companies outside Tesla would be “likely towards the end of next year” (2027), once the AI, reliability and service life are solved and after integrating the AI5 chip, expected around April 2027. The $20,000–30,000 consumer price Musk mentioned in 2024 is a goal, not a published price.

5 · Lifecycle
Current generation

Early production. In January 2026 Tesla announced the “Gen 3” unveiling for the first quarter and the start of production before the end of 2026; in October 2026 it reported that production had begun in Fremont (“Early Ramp”), without stating the generation or volume, and that it will keep iterating the design (above all the hand). Goals, not current capacity: a 1-million-robots-a-year line in Fremont, which Musk does not expect to reach for at least a year, and a second line in Texas designed for 10 million a year.

[Tesla, 2026][Tesla, 2026][Tesla, 2026][Singju Post, 2026]

Spec sheet

Manufacturer maxima under declared conditions; not simultaneous. The test condition is shown under each value.

Weight
Not published
Tesla has not published specifications for the production version (“Gen 3”) in the documents reviewed
Payload
Not published
Operating time
Not published

Primary source quality: Manufacturer / operator

Backed by:[Tesla, 2026][Tesla, 2026]

Taxonomy profile

Where the platform sits on the four axes of the reference framework.

Autonomy

Assisted
  1. L0
  2. L1
  3. L2
  4. L3
  5. L4
  6. L5

Automatic stabilization and simple preprogrammed routines.

Coordination

Standalone
  1. Standalone
  2. Coordinated
  3. Collaborative swarm

No inter-robot communication; each unit operates in isolation.

Control

primary: Teleoperation
  1. FPV
  2. Teleop
  3. Supervised
  4. BVLOS
  5. RL/VLA

supported: Teleoperation · Learned policy (RL/VLA)

Perception

0 sensing modalities

    Operating environments

    • Industrial plant

    Sectors

    • Advanced manipulation

    Ideal business case

    Repetitive industrial tasks (stated goal; no documented productive use)

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