Tesla Is Hiring Engineers for Optimus Bot ‘Mass Production’, Thousands of Robots Planned

The robot revolution is upon us, with Tesla planning to build thousands of Optimus humanoid robots. The EV/AI company is on a hiring spree, with several job positions opened in Palo Alto hinting at high-volume mass production plans.

Tesla surprised everyone in 2021 when it announced plans to produce a humanoid robot. Although robots helped us build our world for the past decades, humanoid robots are still a thing from sci-fi movies, not reality. However, Tesla’s robot program advanced at a neck-breaking pace, and two years later, it had already spawned the second generation of the Optimus bot.

If you’re wondering why a humanoid robot, remember Elon Musk’s master plans, which envision humanity as a multi-planetary species. Life on Mars is harsh, if not impossible, but with robots terraforming the planet and building all the necessary facilities to support life, we might have a chance. Even here on Earth, humanoid robots could prove invaluable, doing many things around the house to relieve humans from heavy and unpleasant jobs.

Of course, the real benefit is to have these robots work in Tesla gigafactories, replacing humans for the most difficult and dangerous jobs. As far-fetched as it seems, it might happen sooner than most people believe. Some think Tesla might start mass production of its Optimus bot by the end of the year. There are several indications that Tesla may indeed target the end of 2024.

For starters, Tesla advertises dozens of open positions at its Palo Alto research center, all related to the Tesla bot program. For specific positions, the job description mentions that the candidate is expected to work with suppliers and other team members to achieve “high-volume mass production with high yield.” Other job positions with an emphasis on manufacturing hint at establishing an upcoming “high-volume production line” and helping Tesla achieve “full-scale production.”

Everything about the Optimus bot program tells me that Tesla is shooting for the stars, with a production line completed as soon as this year. This means that we might see improved versions of the Optimus bot throughout 2024 before the humanoid robot is ready for mass production. However, there’s one thing that might keep Tesla from going too fast with hardware production.

As Porsche knows all too well, manufacturing hardware is the easiest part of a project. Making it work requires software, and that’s the most challenging thing to achieve. Similar to Tesla EVs, Optimus relies on vision-based neural networks to make sense of and interact with the world. This is why there’s a tight connection between the Tesla Full Self-Driving and Optimus bot programs.

Since the former is not progressing at the speed everyone wants, it’s safe to assume that Tesla doesn’t have any incentives to mass-produce robots without a soul. Before Optimus volume production starts, Tesla needs to solve self-driving for its cars and use it successfully as Optimus’s heart and brain.