Tesla will have a working prototype of Tesla Bot this year
Tesla
Ahead of the unveil of the first working prototype of the Tesla humanoid robot on September 30, CEO Elon Musk has disclosed more information about Optimus and how he envisages it being used over the next decade.
Musk wrote about a variety of subjects in his column, "Believing in Technology for a Better World," published in China's Cyberspace Administration official journal. He doubled down on his previous statements that the Tesla Bot is intended to replace human labor in repetitive, boring, and dangerous tasks.
Musk also stated that the vision for Optimus is to have the robots serving millions of households globally. Tesla wants the robot to function not only in industrial settings, but also domestic ones.
“Tesla Bots are initially positioned to replace people in repetitive, boring, and dangerous tasks. But the vision is for them to serve millions of households, such as cooking, mowing lawns, and caring for the elderly”, he wrote.
According to Musk, the Tesla Bot was designed in a humanoid form because it will make it easier for humans to accept it, and it will help it integrate better into a world built for humans.
“The Tesla Bot is close to the height and weight of an adult, can carry or pick up heavy objects, walk fast in small steps, and the screen on its face is an interactive interface for communication with people. You may wonder why we designed this robot with legs. Because human society is based on the interaction of a bipedal humanoid with two arms and ten fingers. So, if we want a robot to adapt to its environment and be able to do what humans do, it has to be roughly the same size, shape, and capabilities as a human,” he continued.
The CEO confirmed that he’s planning to launch the first prototype of the humanoid robot this year, while focusing on improving its intelligence and solving the problem of large-scale production.
“Thereafter, humanoid robots’ usefulness will increase yearly as production scales up and costs fall. In the future, a home robot may be cheaper than a car. Perhaps in less than a decade, people will be able to buy a robot for their parents as a birthday gift,” he said.
Elon Musk talks about the Tesla Bot at AI Day
Tesla Bot was first introduced at the first Tesla AI (recap of event) in August of last year.
The Tesla bot will have its own specialized sensory and actuative systems, in addition to being equipped with the same Autopilot computer used in Tesla electric cars, which will enable it to recognize real-world objects.
It will also be able to lift up to 150 pounds, carry 45 pounds, walk at 5 miles per hour, and have human-like hands and visual sensors.
Tesla's Autopilot cameras will be installed on the front of the robot's head, and its inner workings will be powered by the company's Full Self-Driving computer. Tesla's Full Self-Driving computer interface, which is found in all newer Tesla models, will apparently serve as the bots’ brain.
The long long wait for FSD (Supervised) in Australia and New Zealand may be coming to an end. Thom Drew, Tesla’s Country Director for Australia & New Zealand, has confirmed on LinkedIn that Tesla has been working with local authorities in both countries and that there are no regulatory blockers for the release of FSD in the region.
The confirmation came in response to questions following Tesla’s FSD demo video in Sydney, Australia.
Hurdles Cleared
For many years, the main question surrounding the release of FSD in other Asia-Pacific countries, especially Australia, has been the status of regulatory approval. Drew’s statement provides the clearest answer yet regarding regulatory barriers, and it appears that the path is clear from a governmental standpoint.
“We have been working with local authorities across AU & NZ and there are no regulatory blockers for release. We are running through the final stages of validation prior to public release. Looking to start with HW4 on certain vehicles and then release in phases from there.”
Thom Drew, Tesla’s Country Director for Australia & New Zealand (LinkedIn)
With the regulatory question answered, the timeline for the release is now entirely in Tesla’s hands. According to his statement, Tesla is in the final phases before a public rollout, likely meaning Tesla is doing some final testing and veritifcation on local roads before flipping the switch.
— Tesla Australia & New Zealand (@TeslaAUNZ) July 17, 2025
The Rollout Plan: HW4 First
Drew also provided the first details on how Tesla plans to launch FSD in the two countries, and it seems to be a similar approach to the one Tesla took in China.
That means that the release will begin with AI4 (HW4) equipped vehicles first. Once those vehicles are up and running, they will slowly begin to phase in older AI3 (HW3) vehicles over the next few releases.
For owners of HW3 vehicles (everything we know about the HW3 upgrade), this phased release means that they’ll be waiting a little longer than other owners, but at least there’s progress and some clear next steps now. A little more waiting isn’t too bad, especially when you consider just how long many owners in Australia and New Zealand have been waiting for any semblance of FSD in their nations. Tesla initially outlined Q2 2025 as the target availability date for FSD in RHD markets, so this timing is roughly on track with what Tesla initially announced in September 2024.
Hopefully, Tesla also opens up the opportunity for FSD transfer for HW3 owners in both countries, as we’re sure many people would upgrade alongside the official release of FSD to the latest hardware.
And just in case you thought the first video wasn’t true because it wasn’t upside down - well, Tesla provided us the original too.
Another quarter has passed, and that means it’s time to submit questions and vote for Tesla’s Q2 2025 Earnings Call. While Q1 was a tough quarter for the company, Q2 saw some recovery in sales, although there’s still some work to be done.
However, there’s always a lot to be excited about during Tesla’s Q&A session, where we usually learn a lot about future software improvements and upcoming vehicles. We may hear more about FSD Unsupervised, Robotaxi, or the more affordable vehicle, or its upcoming larger 6-seater Model Y, the Model Y L. Tesla also mentioned a potential FSD price hike back in the Q1 2025 Earnings Call, so that could be something that is brought up as well.
Tesla’s Q2 So Far
Tesla has already released their Q2 2025 Production and Delivery numbers, which were up from Q1 of this year, but still down compared to Q2 last year.
Production
Deliveries
Model 3/Y
396,835
373,728
Model S, X, and Cybertruck
13,409
10,394
Total
410,244
384,122
How to Submit & Vote
Tesla lets shareholders submit a question that will be voted on and may be answered during the Q&A session. To submit your own question or vote on an already submitted question, you’ll need to be a verified shareholder. You can go to Say’s platform and link your brokerage accounts.
Once it is verified, you’ll be able to log in and vote your shares on your own question, or on someone else’s question.
Here’s the link to get started on Say’s Tesla Q&A. You must submit your questions and votes by July 23rd, 2025, at 4:00 PM EDT.
Top Questions So Far
Unsurprisingly, people have already been submitting questions, and here are the top ones so far.
Can you give us some insight how robotaxis have been performing so far and what rate you expect to expand in terms of vehicles, geofence, cities, and supervisors?
What are the key technical and regulatory hurdles still remaining for unsupervised FSD to be available for personal use? Timeline?
What specific factory tasks is Optimus currently performing, and what is the expected timeline for scaling production to enable external sales? How does Tesla envision Optimus contributing to revenue in the next 2–3 years?
Can you provide an update on the development and production timeline for Tesla’s more affordable models? How will these models balance cost reduction with profitability, and what impact do you expect on demand in the current economic climate?
Are there any news for HW3 users getting retrofits or upgrades? Will they get HW4 or some future version of HW5?
When do you anticipate customer vehicles to receive unsupervised FSD?
And here are some other ones we found interesting:
Have any meaningful Optimus milestones changed for this year or next and will thousands of Optimus be performing tasks in Tesla factories by year end?
Are front bumper cameras going to be necessary for unsupervised full self driving? If so, what is the companies plan to retrofit vehicles that do not have them?
Will there be a new AI day to explain the advancements the Autopilot, Optimus, and Dojo/chip teams have made over the past several years. We still do not know much about the HW4.
Earnings Call Details
Tesla will hold its earnings call on Wednesday, July 23rd, at 4:00 PM EDT. It's still early for an access link, but we’ll make sure we have a link up on the site before the earnings call that day.
If you do miss the earnings call, no worries. We will provide a full recap following the call, and we’ll also do some in-depth dives into what was said and what we know.
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