The production of the humanoid robot Optimus is a top priority.
The company's management is preparing the Autopilot and Optimus teams for maximum workload ahead of the launch of key projects.
Tesla employees working on artificial intelligence systems have been warned that the next year will be the "hardest year of their lives." This was stated by Ashok Eluswamy, the company's vice president for AI development, at an internal meeting, according to Business Insider. The year 2026 is expected to be a pivotal year for two key areas of Tesla, the Robotaxi service and Optimus robots, and will require unprecedented work intensity.
At the nearly two-hour meeting, leaders from all artificial intelligence divisions addressed employees, outlining aggressive deadlines for Optimus production and plans for deploying a fleet of autonomous taxis. One employee described the meeting as a "call to arms" aimed at mobilizing the team.
According to Musk's plans announced during the quarterly report in October, Tesla aims to launch Robotaxi in 8-10 megacities by the end of 2025 and put more than a thousand such vehicles on the roads. The production of the humanoid robot Optimus is planned to begin at the end of 2026. Musk acknowledges that scaling up production will take time due to the complexity of the design: the device consists of approximately 10,000 unique components, and the pace will depend on the "slowest and most temperamental" of them.
The Autopilot and Optimus teams work in the same office and regularly communicate with Musk: according to employees, meetings occur weekly and often extend into the night. Tesla has not yet commented on the upcoming workloads.
Previously, two senior Tesla executives responsible for the Cybertruck and Model Y programs announced their departure from the company, reports InsideEVs. Siddhant Awasthi, who worked at Tesla for eight years and recently led the Cybertruck and Model 3 programs, announced his resignation in a LinkedIn post. "It’s hard to summarize eight years in a few lines, but it has been an exciting journey — launching Model 3, working on Giga Shanghai, developing new electronics and wireless systems, creating the unique Cybertruck — all before turning thirty," he wrote, adding that the decision to leave was not easy.
Following him, Emmanuel Lamakki, the head of the Model Y program, who also worked at Tesla for eight years, announced his departure. According to him, the highlight was preparing for the launch of the updated Model Y: "We managed to retool all four factories on three continents in just two weeks — this has never happened in the automotive industry before." Both top executives did not specify where they would go next.
The staff exodus is occurring against the backdrop of declining sales of Tesla electric vehicles and a deep transformation of the company's business model. Elon Musk has repeatedly stated that Tesla's future lies in projects like Robotaxi and the humanoid robot Optimus, which he predicts will account for up to 80% of the company's market value in the future.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HU8hHeP2zrU?si=7fx7jLqMbyqSKU4i" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
