Tesla is reportedly behind on its pledge to build 5,000 Optimus bots this year

Tesla is well behind the pace needed to meet its earlier stated goal of producing at least 5,000 Optimus humanoid robots this year, The Information reports. Nearly eight months into 2025, and the number of bots Tesla has produced is only in the hundreds, according to two sources. That means Tesla will either need to step it up or push back the deadline. 

The news comes after Tesla reported a 12% decline in overall revenue in the second quarter, due to falling EV sales, less cash from regulatory credits, and a decline in solar and energy storage sales. During the Q2 earnings call earlier this week, Musk said that Tesla would start production on its latest Optimus 3 design by early next year. 

“We will scale Optimus production as fast as possible and try to get to a million units a year as quickly as possible,” Musk said. “We think we can get there in less than five years. That’s a reasonable aspiration.”

Recall that Musk has made bold claims like this before. During Tesla’s 2019 Autonomy Day, Musk said the company would have a fleet of a million robotaxis on the road by 2020. Two years later, he said Tesla would mass-produce robotaxis by 2024. Neither of those projections has yet come to pass.