For those working on Tesla's AI teams, next year will be the “most difficult year” of their lives. This is what VP of AI Software Ashok Elluswamy said during a meeting held last month for employees of the Autopilot and Optimus teams.
According to BI sources, Elluswamy said that 2026 will be a key test for the carmaker. Management told employees that they should expect to work harder than ever before to achieve company goals.
One of the people said that the meeting was supposed to be a kind of “rallying cry”. According to sources, leaders from across the AI division spoke to employees for nearly two hours, explaining the thinking behind the announcement.
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Tesla's ambitious plans
Employees received aggressive production schedules for Optimus, as well as goals for Tesla's Robotaxi service. As Tesla races against time to roll out Robotaxis nationwide and ramp up production of the humanoid robot, these two divisions are at the center of CEO Elon Musk's biggest investments.
Elluswamy and a Tesla spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Elon Musk himself said during an October earnings conference call that the company plans to operate Robotaxi in eight to ten metropolitan areas by the end of 2025. He also added that the company aims to have more than a thousand passenger-carrying vehicles on the road by the end of the year.
He also announced that Tesla plans to start production of the Optimus robot at the end of 2026.
— Scaling up production to a million units a year will take time because the process will only move as fast as the slowest, most unreliable, and least happy element among the 10,000. unique parts [tego robota — red.] — he said during an October teleconference.
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Elon Musk's salary
Tesla shareholders approved a compensation package for Musk earlier this month, which could make him the world's first trillionaire. The package includes several ambitious Robotaxi and Optimus milestones, including the deployment of 1 million Robotaxi on public roads and 1 million humanoid robots.
At the time, several compensation consultants told Business Insider that Musk's “cosmic” pay package is unusual for the industry and may prove to be the key to maintaining the billionaire's interest in Tesla.
Musk joked in October that he needed additional Tesla stock because he didn't feel comfortable building a “robot army” if he couldn't have a “strong influence” on the company.
Tesla's Autopilot team, which works in the same building as the Optimus team, has long been one of the company's priority programs. According to previous reports by Business Insider the team is largely separate from other engineers and its organizational structure remains secret.
The team is known for longer working hours and, former employees say, has had weekly meetings with Musk since its inception.
Elluswamy took up a leadership role on the Optimus team earlier this year following the departure of vice president Milan Kovac. The company has since shifted the team's focus to a more camera-based approach — similar to the way it trains its Full Self-Driving software.
The Optimus team also meets weekly with the CEO. Musk said in October that he had regular meetings with the team on Fridays “that sometimes last until midnight.”
The above text is a translation from American edition of Business Insider
