Electric carmaker Tesla announced that it would focus on designing a humanoid robot and won’t release any new models in 2022.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the company’s priorities for the year during its fourth-quarter earnings call Thursday, saying the “most important product” Tesla was developing was a humanoid robot, not its highly anticipated Cybertruck.
“I think it has the potential to be more significant than the vehicle business over time,” Musk said about the construct, code-named Optimus.
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Tesla announced its development of Optimus in August, claiming it would navigate the world without specific orders and complete tasks without being told.
The company reported that its revenue grew 65% year-over-year in the fourth quarter and that its automotive revenue rose to $15.97 billion.
Despite this profit growth, Musk said Tesla was delaying the release of new models due to supply chain problems and the lack of access to computer chips. These continue to be Tesla’s “main limiting factor,” according to a shareholder deck for the fourth quarter. This lack of parts has forced the company to prioritize delivering its existing models over developing new ones.
“If we were to introduce new vehicles, our total vehicle output will decrease,” he said.
Musk also said another central area of focus for Tesla in 2022 would be the construction of autonomous vehicles.
“Over time, our software-related profit should accelerate our overall profitability,” the shareholder deck read.
The electric carmaker’s software came under scrutiny by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in August 2021, when the agency announced an investigation into Tesla’s autopilot features after officials reported 11 crashes connected to the autopilot. The feature, which manages most of a vehicle’s acceleration and braking while staying in the lane, was allegedly responsible for 17 injuries and one death.
Despite the technical challenges, Musk is confident that Tesla will achieve “Full Self-Driving” this year, which would make the company’s vehicles autonomous. The beta for “Full Self-Driving” is available in 60,000 of Tesla’s vehicles, the company said.
Musk was frustrated that the public did not fully appreciate the company’s new software options.
“It’s not like some little feature,” he said. “It’s like the most profound software upgrade maybe in history.”
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While Musk alleges that his autonomous vehicles are safe, the courts seem to be less sure. The first felony charges involving Tesla’s autopilot system were filed on Jan. 19 after a Tesla vehicle allegedly killed two people while driving with the autopilot on.
