Tesla says Optimus is in production — and that outside customers will not get one until late 2027

Tesla's third-quarter shareholder letter said Optimus production has started at Fremont, describing the process as suitable for a commercial product. It did not give a delivery date. On the earnings call on 21 October Elon Musk was more cautious: he called it "early production", said deliveries to companies outside Tesla were expected around the end of 2027, and named the hands, durability and the AI as the things still to be solved. He estimated that reaching 20,000 units a week would take at least a year and possibly longer, because parts of the design are still changing. Musk also said Tesla aims to begin selling the robot next year. Tesla has still not published how many Optimus units it has built.

Why it matters

The tracker already records Optimus entering production on the converted Model S and X line. This is the other half of that fact: production has begun, and a product that customers can take delivery of is a year or more away. The gap is not unusual for a new machine; it is the reason the tracker treats a production start and a delivery as different milestones.

It also says something about what is unsolved. Hands are the part of a humanoid that does the useful work, and the part this newsroom argued last month the production-rate headlines skipped. Tesla is now saying the same thing in its own words. Meanwhile Agility's Digit is already deployed at customer sites under paid contracts, and GXO said this week it is expanding to two more — narrower machines, but delivered.

What to watch

Whether Tesla publishes a production count, whether the late-2027 date holds on the next call, and what Optimus does inside Tesla's own plants in the meantime.