Tesla Starts Optimus Production in Fremont as Third-Quarter Profit Falls 43%
Net income was $787 million on flat revenue of $28.04 billion, and unsupervised self-driving has slipped again.
Tesla said it has begun producing its Optimus humanoid robot at its Fremont, California, factory, as it reported third-quarter 2026 results showing net income down 43%, TechCrunch reported on October 21.
Optimus production
The robots are being built in space at Fremont that was previously used for electric vehicles. Tesla's quarterly letter calls them "the first production-quality bots that we have manufactured," according to TechCrunch. Elon Musk described the work as early production and said the ramp would be "somewhat bumpy." He still projected output of 20,000 robots per week by the end of 2027, and said design fixes and AI work remain.
Third-quarter numbers
- Net income: $787 million, versus $1.37 billion in the third quarter of 2025. Lower sales of regulatory credits also weighed on profit.
- Revenue: $28.04 billion, compared with $28.09 billion a year earlier and $28.23 billion in the previous quarter.
- Vehicles: Electric-vehicle revenue was flat year over year at about $20 billion. Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles, roughly 6,000 more than in the prior quarter but fewer than a year ago.
- Energy: Solar and energy storage revenue fell 16% to $2.8 billion, which Tesla attributed to tariff-related customer refunds.
- Services: Revenue rose 33% to $4.6 billion, with a record $734 million in gross profit. The category includes Full Self-Driving subscriptions.
TechCrunch said heavy spending on AI, Optimus and autonomous driving also weighed on profits.
Self-driving timeline
The unsupervised version of Full Self-Driving has been delayed again. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's vice president of AI software, said the company suspects it could turn on the first customer vehicles for its robotaxi fleet "somewhere around Q2 next year." In April, Musk had said unsupervised FSD would "probably" arrive in the fourth quarter of this year.
Context
Tesla separately said it expects to start selling its Cybercab by the end of the year, TechCrunch reported in a companion story. The company has been shifting its emphasis from vehicle sales toward robotics and autonomy, and the quarter's figures show vehicle revenue holding steady while profit shrinks under higher spending.
Figures above come from Tesla's third-quarter letter as summarized by TechCrunch.
