Elon Musk has made it clear that he sees humanoid robots as the future of EV maker Tesla (TSLA), but the company is far from hitting its ambitious production goals, according to The Information. Indeed, Musk previously announced a target of producing at least 5,000 Optimus robots this year. However, sources say that Tesla has only built a few hundred so far. To meet its goal, Tesla would need to dramatically scale up production in the second half of the year. This comes as the company’s revenue declines in its electric vehicle business and is searching for its next major growth driver.
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One of Tesla’s biggest challenges when it comes to developing Optimus is designing functional, human-like hands capable of performing a wide range of tasks. In fact, these hands have proven to be extremely complex to engineer, and some robots remain incomplete without them. Nevertheless, Tesla has been testing about 50 Optimus robots at its Palo Alto facility, where they are trained to walk and handle objects under supervision. Production has since shifted to Fremont, California, where Tesla also builds its cars.
Still, behind the scenes, Tesla has faced production bottlenecks, high research costs, and leadership changes. The company has also taken legal action against former employees accused of stealing trade secrets related to robots. While Musk predicts that Tesla will produce more than a million robots a year by 2030 and even imagines Optimus walking on Mars, skeptics point out that the company has a history of missing deadlines.
What Is the Prediction for Tesla Stock?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on TSLA stock based on 14 Buys, 14 Holds, and seven Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average TSLA price target of $314.48 per share implies 0.5% downside risk.
