Tesla AI Strategy: Elon Musk on FSD, Optimus Robots, Dojo Supercomputer, Robotaxi Developments

Tesla is far more than an electric vehicle (EV) and energy storage company. It also aspires to be one of the world's leading artificial intelligence (AI) businesses. But how is Tesla developing AI systems with human sustainability in mind? And how might CEO Elon Musk's bumpy relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump potentially challenge those AI efforts? Here are some clues...

First, some background: Hyperscale cloud companies such as Microsoft (working with OpenAI), Google (aligned with Anthropic) and Amazon Web Services (also working with Anthropic) often dominate the artificial intelligence (AI) conversation among CIOs and futurists. Meanwhile, hardware companies such as NVIDIA, AMD, Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), IBM, Intel and Lenovo have focused on supercomputer AI opportunities.

Still, some pundits believe Tesla ranks among the world's top AI companies. Among the reasons: Sensors in Tesla's cars provide a live, real-world network for data gathering. And Tesla's back-end infrastructure -- including homegrown supercomputer technology -- can gather, manage and analyze all of that data.

AI and Sustainability: Admittedly, AI is both a blessing and a burden for the world's sustainability efforts. While some AI applications allow scientists, universities and businesses to study climate change, the overall AI movement also requires heavy energy use. And of course, some pundits worry AI and robots
could ultimately threaten humanity.

So how is Tesla developing AI systems with human sustainability in mind? On the R&D front, Tesla's major AI investments involve:

• Full self-driving (FSD) cars, trucks, robotaxi options and autonomous vehicles.
• Optimus robots.

Still, there have also been some high-profile setbacks. One prime example: Musk abandoned a Tesla supercomputer project called Dojo, Bloomberg reported in August 2025, though Tesla is marching forward with key chip developments, Reuters added.

Also of note: Musk also leads X (formerly Twitter) and xAI -- a startup that's seeking to compete against OpenAI, Anthropic and other generative AI companies. Musk watchers wonder if synergies between xAI (maker of Grok) and Tesla will emerge. And those synergies, in turn, may help to address such markets as renewable energy, power management and plenty more.

Amid that backdrop, here is a regularly updated timeline of developments...

Tesla AI Strategy: December 2025 Updates

• Employee Departures: Sunday Robotics has hired several former Tesla staff members to work on its Memo home robot, Business Insider reported.

Tesla AI Strategy: November 2025 Updates

• Energy Business Growth: Tesla’s energy generation and storage business now represents 12.1% of company revenue, expanding 27.1% year-to-date and rapidly becoming the company’s most scalable segment, Investing.com reported.
• AI Chips: Tesla is close to finishing its AI5 chip, has started work on its AI6 chip, and is aiming to bring a new chip design to volume production every 12 months, CEO Elon Musk said on X. (Source: SeekingAlpha)
• Robotaxi Services: Tesla has obtained a permit to operate a ride-hailing service in Arizona. Separately, Amazon's Zoox will start giving free robotaxi rides through parts of San Francisco as it strives to challenge Waymo's early market lead. (Sources: CNBC, Associated Press)
• Hard Work Ahead: If you work on Tesla's AI teams, then 2026 will be the "hardest year" of your life, Tesla VP of AI Software Ashok Elluswamy said during an all-hands-on meeting in October, Business Insider reported.
• Customer Payments?: Tesla customers could be paid $100 to $200 a month if they allow Tesla to perform AI inference workloads when the electric vehicles (EVs) are not in use, CEO Elon Musk suggested, according to SeekingAlpha.
• AI Chip Factory?: Musk said Tesla probably will have to build "a gigantic chip fab" to make AI chips and publicly mused the EV maker could work with Intel, Reuters reported.
• Elon Musk Pay Package: Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay plan for CEO Elon Musk. Still, the pay package requires Tesla to hit aggressive financial goals -- though Musk can earn more than $50 billion by hitting several reasonably attainable goals, CNBC reported.
• Potential xAI Investment: Tesla's board will continue to explore potential investments in xAI, a generative AI company that Musk is building to counter OpenAI, Anthropic and others, Business Insider reported.

Tesla AI Strategy: October 2025 Updates

• CEO Transition?: Tesla is prepared to name a new CEO from inside the company if shareholders reject Musk’s proposed pay package and he steps down, Bloomberg reported. Moreover, the strategy could call for more than one executive to lead the company, the report added.
• Pay Package Debate: Tesla shareholders must vote to pay CEO Elon Musk almost $1 trillion, or he might not stay, Board Chair Robyn Denholm warned in a letter, according to CNBC.
• Energy Business Growth: Tesla's energy storage business generated record deployments, gross profit and margins in Q3 of 2025, CFO Vaibhav Taneja said during Tesla's quarterly earnings call with financial analysts.
• Energy Equipment Leasing Program: Tesla Energy has introduced a new financing option designed to make its solar and home battery systems more accessible to customers, Not a Tesla App reported.
• Record Energy Deployments: Tesla deployed 12.5 GWh of energy storage products in Q3 of 2025, the company said. Tesla expects to announce quarterly financial results on October 22.

Tesla AI Strategy: September 2025 Updates

• AI Executive Exits: Tesla’s Optimus AI team lead Ashish Kumar has left the electric carmaker to join Meta Platforms as a research scientist, Stockwits reported.
• Energy Engineer Resigns: Giorgio Balestrieri resigned from the Tesla Energy team because he believes Elon Musk's "leadership and decision making seem seriously compromised." On LinkedIn, Balestrieri wrote in part: "This is not just about politics: it’s about lying to the public, manipulating public discourse, targeting minorities and supporting climate change deniers and political forces aligned with the oil and gas industry."
• Business Strategy: Tesla has published its fourth “Master Plan,” and at a high level it is about how the company wants to lead the charge into planet-wide adoption of humanoid robots and sustainable energy, TechCrunch reported -- though the media outlet said the plan "reads like LLM-generated nonsense."
  

Tesla AI Strategy: August 2025 Updates

• Tesla Rethinks Dojo Supercomputer Project: Tesla is disbanding its Dojo supercomputer team, Bloomberg reported. Peter Bannon, who was heading up Dojo, is leaving Tesla. The Dojo team had lost about 20 workers to a startup called DensityAI, the report added. Offering context, Musk said Tesla will streamline its AI chip research to focus on its development of inference chips used to run AI models and make real-time decisions, Reuters reported.

Tesla AI Strategy: July 2025 Updates

• Executive Departures: Multiple Tesla executives have exited the company in recent months. Noteworthy departures include Troy Jones, formerly VP of sales, service and delivery, North America; sales and manufacturing expert Omead Afshare; software engineering leader David Lau; HR leader Jenna Ferrua; and battery expert Vineet Mehta.
• July 24 - Trump's Perspectives: Instead of burying Tesla, Trump insists that he wants to see the EV company thrive. In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon’s companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so! The better they do, the better the USA does, and that’s good for all of us.”
• July 23 - Robotaxi Goals: Tesla is striving to make its robotaxi service available to half the U.S. population by the end of 2025, Musk said during the company's earnings call.
• July 23 - Robot Goals: The company hopes to ship 1 million Optimus robots per year within five years, Musk said.
• July 23 - Energy Business Drops: The company's energy generation and storage revenue decreased $225 million, or 7%, in the three months ended June 30, 2025 as compared to the three months ended June 30, 2024, primarily due to a decrease in average selling price of Megapack, partially offset by an increase in Powerwall deployments compared to the prior year, according to an SEC filing.
• July 23 - Earnings Drop: Tesla revenue dropped 12% and profits slumped 16% in the three months through June, the company disclosed in a quarterly earnings report.
• July 9 - AI Misstep: xAI is taking down “inappropriate posts" made by its Grok chatbot, which appeared to include antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler, SeekingAlpha reported.
• July 7 - Political Distraction: Tesla shares fell 7% after Musk said he planned to launch a third political party in protest to runaway Republican spending, SeekingAlpha reported.

Tesla AI Strategy: June 2025 Updates

• Executive Exit: Milan Kovac, the head of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot program, announced his plans to step down, according to his account on X (formerly Twitter).
• China Energy Grid: Tesla’s first grid-scale battery storage project in China, using its Megapack batteries, will be situated in Shanghai, local outlet Yicai and SeekingAlpha reported.
• Robotaxi Investigation?: U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating reports that Tesla’s self-driving robotaxis may have violated traffic laws on their first day of offering paid rides in Austin, SeekingAlpha reported.

Tesla AI Strategy: April 2025 Updates

• Full Self Driving (FSD): Tesla launched a supervised FSD ride-hailing pilot in Austin, Texas and San Francisco for employees, The New York Post reported.
• Optimus Robots: Tesla is seeking to build roughly 10,000 Optimus robots in 2025 (with a baseline goal of around 5,000), plus plans for 50,000 units in 2026, Teslarati reported.

Tesla AI Strategy: March 2025 Updates

• Robotaxi Progress?: Tesla secured a permit from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to operate a transportation service in the state, SeekingAlpha reported, marking the first step in a lengthy regulatory process that could ultimately pave the way for the company to launch a robotaxi service there.

More: Continue to next page for earlier Tesla AI milestones, setbacks and news updates.