Tesla delays Optimus delivery to late 2027

Tesla is delaying the delivery of its Optimus humanoid robots to the end of 2027. Elon Musk revealed this on Tesla’s Q3 2026 earnings call, citing ongoing issues with the robot’s hands, durability, and AI. These are the same challenges faced by every major humanoid robot company, and despite Musk’s claims, competitors like XPeng and Hyundai’s Boston Dynamics appear to be at least as far along.

Tesla has started early production of Optimus on its high-volume line in Fremont, but most of the line is still being installed. The design is still changing, and it will take at least a year, possibly longer, to reach a rate of about 20,000 units a week. Musk expects the AI, the electromechanical design, and the reliability of the robot to be solved by the end of next year. That’s when Tesla expects to deliver Optimus to companies outside Tesla, starting with industrial jobs that are dangerous, repetitive, or need to run around the clock.

Tesla plans to build 10,000 to 20,000 robots and have them practice tasks in what it calls an Optimus Academy. Tesla also plans to put its AI5 chip in Optimus around April 2027. Musk also promised an Optimus video within a month or two showing the robot doing tasks that aren’t pre-programmed. He argued that many humanoid demos look impressive but only run scripted routines that wouldn’t hold up in the real world.

XPeng turned on an automated IRON production line in Guangzhou in September, with more than 80% of core processes automated. IRON has 21 degrees of freedom in each hand and runs XPeng’s physical AI model on three in-house Turing chips. XPeng plans mass production by the end of 2026, deliveries in the first half of 2027 starting with stores and malls, and a European rollout in the second half of 2027. That’s a similar timeline to Tesla’s, if not slightly ahead.

Boston Dynamics started producing its electric Atlas in January and says all of its 2026 Atlas deployments are already committed, including to Google DeepMind, whose AI models Boston Dynamics is integrating. In September, it opened a robot training center at Hyundai’s Metaplant in Georgia, where Atlas is learning to sequence car parts for the assembly line. Hyundai plans to deploy 25,000 robots across its plants over the next few years. Boston Dynamics also hired Milan Kovac, Tesla’s former head of Optimus, in January.

Boston Dynamics also seems to have taken a more pragmatic approach to hands, prioritizing sturdy grippers for industrial parts over human-like dexterity. That’s less impressive in a demo, but it’s a way around the problem Tesla says is holding it back.

Electrek’s Take Anyone shocked? Top comment by Paul Topping My prediction is that Optimus will forever be delayed. It’s like FSD in Tesla cars, never quite good enough to really take off and always one or two releases away from fixing everything. At least a Tesla car with a broken FSD is still a good car. Optimus with a bad brain is an interesting-looking boat anchor.

Tesla is facing the exact same problems as everyone else: hands that survive real work, robots reliable enough to pay for themselves, and AI that can handle tasks it wasn’t trained for. Nobody has cracked generalization yet, Tesla included. The difference is that Tesla’s competitors aren’t telling investors they have no competition.

Based on what’s public, XPeng has a more automated production line and a similar delivery date, and Boston Dynamics is already deploying Atlas in a car factory with committed customers. Tesla may well have the most robots built, but building robots isn’t the hard part. Making them useful is.

Tesla has promised a video in a month or two. If it shows Optimus doing real, unscripted work, great. But we’ve heard about Optimus timelines before, and they’ve slipped every year. Why should late 2027 be different? As AI and robotics put more pressure on the grid and electricity rates climb, solar and batteries are becoming essential home infrastructure, not a luxury. With electricity rates up almost 10% last year and expected to keep climbing, going solar is one of the best ways to protect yourself against rising costs. And with lease and PPA options, you can do it with zero upfront cost and start saving immediately. If you want to find the best deal, check out EnergySage. It’s a free service with hundreds of pre-vetted installers competing for your business, so you save 20 to 30% compared to going it alone. No sales calls until you pick an installer. Get your free quotes here.