Elon Musk is no stranger to defying skeptics, and the robotics business will likely be one of his next frontiers. The billionaire has made a career by pushing against the tide with electric cars and rockets. Still, his plans to turn Tesla into a maker of human-like robots on legs have drawn skepticism from investors and artificial intelligence experts. In his latest earnings call, Musk set new targets for Tesla’s growth in autonomous software and using humanoid robots in factories. But he also acknowledged he’s been overly optimistic before.
During his Q2 2023 earnings call, Musk laid out some ambitious targets for the company’s artificial intelligence products, including full self-driving (FSD) software allowing vehicles to operate without needing a driver. He said FSD is already miles ahead of competitors because Tesla vehicles on the road collect more data about their surroundings than other manufacturers, enabling the AI to improve its performance over time.
He said Tesla is in early talks with a major automaker to license its full self-driving technology, which will be offered as an option for Tesla vehicles in the future. He believes that once regulators approve such a system, the value of Tesla vehicles will rise in perhaps “the single biggest step change in history.”
The CEO also discussed Tesla’s plan to produce robotaxis, designed to transport passengers in high-end versions of the Model 3 sedan. The SUVs are expected to carry up to five people and be capable of operating in a fully automated mode, making them a viable alternative to taxis. Musk said the robot axis will use cameras and artificial intelligence instead of relying on radar and lidar systems that other companies such as Waymo use.
In other news, Musk revealed that he is working on a humanoid robot, Optimus, that could be shipped to customers. The billionaire showed off a prototype of the bipedal machine last year, but it failed to impress both artificial intelligence experts and investors.
How a humanoid robot would fit into Tesla’s business model needs to be clarified, especially in the consumer market, where home robotics has proven to be a spectacularly frugal business (the exception being iRobots Roomba). It could be more apparent what benefit it would provide if and when it ever gets made, as it will likely take years for the machine to become practical enough for mass production.
While the long-term promise of autonomous vehicles and a robotaxi fleet is exciting, investors should remember that the company must overcome many short-term hurdles, such as rising interest rates and competition from new EV makers. It’s also worth remembering the abiding lessons from dystopian robot-future sci-fi movies that have shown us what happens when such technologies are unleashed. The most important question is not whether humans will lose their jobs to machines but how quickly it will happen.
