Tesla has begun early production of Optimus at its Fremont, California, factory, shifting the humanoid robot from years of demonstrations toward a manufacturing test. The company said the units leaving the line are its “first production-quality bots” and that it has established a process suitable for a commercial product.¹

The move follows Tesla’s decision earlier this year to halt Model S and Model X production at Fremont and repurpose space for an Optimus line. The eventual target is extraordinary: one million robots a year at Fremont, with a larger Austin line planned for 10 million annually. Yet Tesla has not said when customers will actually be able to buy the machine.¹

Musk’s message has been celebratory but notably qualified. After Tesla’s quarterly update, he wrote, “Great progress by the Tesla team!”Elon Musk (elonmusk)² On the earnings call, however, he acknowledged that “there’s still parts of the design that are changing,” even as he predicted a 20,000-unit weekly run rate in roughly a year or perhaps longer.³

That caution is central to the Optimus story. In a reposted summary of Musk’s remarks, he described the ramp as an S-curve whose opening stage is “a shallow slope,” adding that Tesla still needs to tweak the design despite having most of Fremont’s million-unit line installed.Elon Musk (elonmusk)⁴

Tesla is trying to build scale before the market hardens around competitors. Agility Robotics has deployed Digit at nine customer facilities, while Figure AI has announced logistics and distribution deployments; other firms, including 1X and Sunday Robotics, are preparing home robots.¹ For Tesla, the factory start is a milestone—not proof yet that Optimus can become the mass-market product Musk says it will be.