🇺🇸 Tesla

About Tesla

Tesla was founded in 2003 and is best known for electric vehicles and energy storage. Its robotics programme emerged publicly in 2021 when Elon Musk announced the Optimus humanoid project, framing it as potentially the company's most valuable long-term product line. The first prototype appeared in 2022 and subsequent generations have shown rapid iteration on dexterity, walking mechanics, and task capability.

Optimus Gen 2 is the current production-intent platform, deployed internally at Tesla's own manufacturing facilities in Texas and California for battery cell handling and parts sorting. Tesla has described a commercial availability target but has not provided a firm launch date or pricing. The company's advantage is its in-house supply chain for actuators, sensors, and AI chips, which may allow it to achieve cost structures unavailable to pure-play humanoid startups. Dojo supercomputing infrastructure provides training capacity at a scale no competitor currently matches.

Tesla's entry into commercial humanoid markets would represent a major structural shift given its manufacturing volume and brand recognition, but as of late 2025 the product remains in internal deployment only.

Key Products

• Optimus Gen 2: Bipedal humanoid; currently in internal factory deployment; commercial availability unconfirmed
• Optimus Gen 1: Prototype platform; not commercially available

UK Market Presence

Tesla has UK operations through its vehicle sales and service network, but no UK robotics distribution or deployment activity has been announced. If Optimus reaches commercial sale, Tesla's existing UK corporate infrastructure would provide a natural route to market. Pricing targets mentioned by Musk have ranged from $20,000 to $30,000 per unit at volume, which at current exchange rates would position it well below competing humanoids.

Buying Used Tesla Robots

No secondhand market exists for Optimus. All units are internally deployed and not available for purchase. This will remain the case until Tesla officially launches commercial sales. Any market listing for a used Optimus should be treated as fraudulent.