Elon Musk says copycats are why Tesla can't unveil Optimus sooner

Elon Musk said Tesla is holding back a public demo of its Optimus V3 humanoid robot to limit competitors’ ability to copy the design, while pushing to move the unveiling closer to the start of production. Tesla expects Fremont production to begin in late July or August 2026 and plans a second Texas line around summer 2027. Company materials target annual output of ~1 million robots from Fremont and 10 million from the Texas gigafactory long term. Tesla previously said it would stop Model S/X production to refit Fremont for Optimus. Musk said testing is ramping and Optimus could do simple factory tasks and operate off-line for hours, with orchestration by xAI’s Grok. Market implications: the timelines and massive capacity targets imply a potential long-term new revenue stream, but near-term execution risk and multi-month factory retooling keep sentiment cautious.