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Tesla begins pilot production of Optimus humanoid robots in California as quarterly profits drop 43% from heavy AI spending

Tesla initiated pilot production of its Optimus humanoid robot at its Fremont factory, describing the newly assembled units in shareholder updates as the first production-quality bots manufactured on its dedicated lines. Elon Musk reiterated plans to scale output to 20000 units weekly by late 2027. However, capital expenditure on compute clusters and robotics weighed heavily on financial results, driving net income down 43% year-over-year to $787 million. Quarterly revenue rose to $28.04 billion with 486532 vehicle deliveries, while AI software VP Ashok Elluswamy signaled that unsupervised autonomous driving deployments are targeted for early 2027.