Tesla was building “several hundred” Optimus humanoids a week in August 2026, roughly ten times the “few dozen” a week it managed in the second quarter, according to a report by The Information summarised by Electrek on September 25, 2026. Managers are targeting more than 1,000 a week by the end of 2026 and eventually about 20,000 a week, but the robots being built are Optimus V3 units that are not the final commercial design, and Tesla has announced no external customers.

Why it matters: this is the first credible outside read on Optimus output since Tesla missed its 2025 volume goal. The ramp is real, but the report also shows the two things that decide whether Optimus becomes a product: hands that are still largely built by hand, and software that still needs days to learn a basic task.

Key Facts

  • Output: “several hundred” Optimus a week in August 2026, up from “a few dozen” a week in Q2 (The Information, via Electrek, Sep 25, 2026)
  • Internal targets: more than 1,000 a week by end-2026; about 20,000 a week eventually
  • Hand and forearm: more than 100 screws and small parts assembled manually; replaceable sensing glove planned for 2027
  • Training data: more than 500,000 hours, with a goal to double it by year-end
  • Go-to-market: leasing to selected commercial customers first; Musk has said sales could begin in late 2027 (Gizmodo)

When will Tesla Optimus V3 be released?

As of September 28, 2026, Tesla has not held a public unveiling of Optimus V3, even though V3 units are already coming off its line. On Tesla’s fourth-quarter call in January 2026, Musk said Generation 3, the first design intended for mass manufacturing, would be unveiled in the first quarter of 2026. On the first-quarter call on April 22, he moved that to “probably middle of this year” and said the reveal would come closer to the start of production. Electrek noted on September 25 that the mid-2026 reveal has still not happened.

Production started before the reveal. In April, Musk said the Fremont line that had built the Model S and Model X would be converted to Optimus between early May and late July or August. He warned that early output would be “quite slow” because the robot has about 10,000 unique parts. The August figure of several hundred a week is consistent with that timeline.

The version buyers will get is a separate question. Humanoids Daily, summarising the same report, says the V3 units now in production are not the final customer version, which still has to meet stricter durability and reliability standards. Musk has said Tesla could begin selling Optimus by late 2027, according to Gizmodo. A second Optimus factory at Giga Texas is expected to start production around summer 2027.

How many Optimus robots is Tesla building?

Tesla was producing several hundred Optimus robots a week in August 2026, according to The Information. That is roughly tenfold the rate of a few dozen a week in the second quarter. Tesla does not publish Optimus production figures, so these are reported numbers, not official company figures.

The targets scale quickly. More than 1,000 a week by the end of 2026 works out to over 50,000 a year at a constant rate. The eventual goal of about 20,000 a week is roughly 1 million a year, which matches the annual capacity Tesla has said the Fremont line is ultimately designed for. For comparison, the largest Chinese makers count cumulative output in the tens of thousands: see our humanoid shipments by company tracker.

Output is not deployment. Electrek reports that most units are used internally for testing, training and data collection, and that robots work in controlled areas on tasks they were specifically programmed for. In January 2026 Musk said Optimus was “still in the R&D phase” and not in use in Tesla’s factories “in a material way”.

The table below sets Tesla’s public promises against what has been reported. Status as of September 28, 2026.

PromiseWhen it was madeWhat happened
Optimus price of $20,000–$30,000, “less than a car”We, Robot event, October 2024A target, not a list price. No price has been published; first units are to be leased
Roughly 10,000 Optimus built in 2025, several thousand doing useful work by year-endQ4 2024 earnings call, January 2025Missed. In January 2026 Musk said no Optimus robots were doing useful work at Tesla
Optimus V3 unveiled in Q1 2026Q4 2025 earnings call, January 2026Pushed to “probably middle of this year” in April; not unveiled as of late September
Production start before end-2026January and April 2026 callsOn track: several hundred a week reported in August 2026
Sales to other companiesMusk, June 2024, suggested production for other companies from 2026No external customer, signed lease or delivery schedule announced; sales possibly from late 2027

How much will Tesla Optimus cost?

Tesla has not published a price for Optimus. The only number Musk has given is a target of $20,000 to $30,000, which he described at the October 2024 We, Robot event as “less than a car”, and he tied it to high-volume production. It should be read as a cost goal at scale, not a list price.

The first commercial route is leasing, not sale. The Information reports that Tesla plans to lease Optimus to selected customers whose factories resemble Tesla’s own. Leasing lets Tesla take units back for repair and upgrades and keep the fleet data, which suits a robot whose hands still need a redesign. Buyers wanting a humanoid today have listed options: Unitree sells its G1 from $13,500, and 1X is taking orders for its NEO home humanoid at $20,000 or $499 a month. Our humanoid robot price guide tracks the list prices.

Why are the hands the bottleneck?

The hands are the part of Optimus that does not yet scale. According to The Information, each hand-and-forearm assembly has more than 100 screws and other small components that are put together manually, and the hands are not durable enough for sustained use, with touch-sensor durability a reported problem. Tesla’s fix is a replaceable “sensing glove” carrying the touch sensors, planned for 2027, so that a worn sensor skin can be swapped without replacing the whole hand.

This is the industry’s common weak point, not a Tesla-specific one. Dexterous hands pack many small actuators, tendons and sensors into a small volume, and they take the most wear. Our robot hands comparison sets out the trade-offs other makers have chosen.

Software is the second constraint. The report says Optimus can take several days to learn a basic task and does not reliably handle tasks it was not trained for. Tesla has more than 500,000 hours of training data and aims to double that by the end of 2026. Rivals are claiming progress on exactly this problem: Figure reported that Helix 2.5 did chores in 30 unseen homes with a 56% success rate. A thousand robots a week is a manufacturing achievement; it becomes a business only when each robot can learn a new job in hours, not days.

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Frequently Asked

Can I buy a Tesla Optimus robot?

No. As of September 2026 Tesla does not sell Optimus; it plans to lease robots first to selected commercial customers, and Musk has said sales could begin in late 2027.

Is Tesla Optimus doing real work in Tesla factories?

Not at scale. In January 2026 Musk said no Optimus robots were doing useful work at Tesla, and reports in September 2026 say most units are used internally for testing, training and data collection.

Did Tesla build 10,000 Optimus robots in 2025?

No. Musk said in January 2025 that Tesla aimed to build about 10,000 Optimus units that year; production at scale only began at Fremont in mid-2026, reaching several hundred a week in August 2026.

What is the Optimus sensing glove?

It is a replaceable glove carrying the hand’s touch sensors that Tesla plans to add in 2027, according to The Information, so worn sensors can be swapped without replacing the whole hand.

Sources & Further Reading