Humanoid robots have long been a punchline, from clumsy factory demos to viral clips of machines tripping over cables. Tesla’s Optimus project arrived in that context, easy to mock and easier to dismiss as a distraction from electric cars.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week, Musk said that Tesla is “planning to make its Optimus robots available for sale to the public by the end of 2027.” That is when Tesla will be confident that the robots will be highly reliable, safe and functional. The robots will be able to perform any task, he said.

Tesla has drawn a stark new line between its past and its future. After years of defining the modern electric vehicle market, the company is now telling investors that humanoid robots and autonomous taxis will matter more to its destiny than sedans and SUVs.

Before the Q4 2025 earnings call, Tesla provided a few unsupervised Robotaxi rides in Austin, but since then, it appears that unmanned robotaxis disappeared

A week ago we saw Tesla’s Optimus robot showing off some nifty dance moves. This week, you can watch it performing a bunch of mundane tasks, though admittedly with a great deal of skill — for a humanoid robot. Instructed via natural language prompts ...