At the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Elon Musk spoke with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink during the forum and updated attendees on key Tesla (TSLA) projects and global topics. He covered humanoid robots, robotaxis, AI, and a geopolitical remark about Greenland.
He stressed progress on Tesla’s humanoid effort and factory tests of prototypes. “Humanoid robotics will advance very quickly. We do have some of the Tesla Optimus robots doing simple tasks in the factory,” he said.
He gave a nearer-term timeline for broader capabilities and sales. “By the end of this year, I think they will be doing more complex tasks, but still deployed in an industrial environment,” and “By the end of next year, I think we’ll be selling humanoid robots to the public. That’s when we are confident that it’s very high liability, very high safety, and the range of functionality is high.” (Ed. note: This shifts earlier public targets.)
Musk also outlined Tesla’s robotaxi rollout and approvals plan. “Tesla has rolled out a robotaxi service in a few cities, and it will be very widespread by the end of this year within the US,” he said, adding hopes for European approval next month.
He described large economic effects from AI and robots. “If we have ubiquitous AI, which is essentially free or close to it, and ubiquitous robotics, then you will have an explosion in the global economy that is truly beyond all precedent,” and he predicted abundant robots for care tasks.
Selective tech shares rose slightly after the appearance. Tesla (TSLA) stock was up about 2 percent at press time.
