Elon Musk says Tesla’s robot will make physical labor a ‘choice’, Auto News, ET Auto
San Francisco: August 20, 2021 – After dominating the electric vehicle market and throwing his hat on the billionaire space race, Tesla boss Elon Musk has announced the final frontier he aims to conquer: the humanoid robots.
The irascible entrepreneur said Thursday he would have a first prototype of an androgynous “Tesla Bot” by next year.
Based on the same technology as the company’s semi-autonomous vehicles, the robot will be able to perform basic repetitive tasks in an effort to eliminate the need for people to handle dangerous or boring jobs, Musk said. at an online event on Tesla’s progress in artificial matter. intelligence (IA).
“Tesla is arguably the biggest robotics company in the world because cars are semi-sensitive robots on wheels,†he said. “It makes sense to put this in humanoid form.”
Tesla’s boast about its automation technology comes as the automaker faces increased oversight of its driver assistance system, with safety regulators in the United States launching probe after series of crashes .
Tesla is accused of misleading motorists into believing that so-called autopilot vehicles can drive themselves, although Musk has defended the system.
The autopilot controversy was not discussed during Thursday’s two-and-a-half-hour online conference, nor raised during questions from the audience.
Instead, Musk promised his future robot would be a benign presence.
He said the Tesla Bot, which will have five-fingered hands and will come in black and white, is meant to be “friendly” and built in such a way that “you can run away from it and most likely overpower it.”
“I hope that doesn’t happen, but you never know,†he joked.
Musk, the second richest person in the world according to Forbes, told the conference that he believes robots will gradually eliminate physical labor for people.
“I basically think that in the future physical labor will be a choice,†he said.
As CEO, Musk has transformed Tesla from a fledgling startup into a pioneer in the electric car industry, with the company reporting its first-ever quarterly profit above $ 1 billion on record deliveries last month.
His company SpaceX also competes in the burgeoning commercial aerospace market, while Neuralink aims to develop brain implants to connect humans and computers.
But the self-proclaimed “Technoking” has also clashed repeatedly with regulators over everything from its use of social media to discuss Tesla’s operations to local health protocols against coronaviruses affecting its factories.
The company has had a difficult record with its human workforce, including allegations of unfair labor practices and the dismissal of a union organizer.
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Tesla failed to meet that target, and Musk is hosting another event called “AI Day” on Thursday to promote his electric car business as the place to work for the engineers he needs to deliver on his self-driving vehicle promises. .
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched an investigation into Tesla’s autopilot software, to assess the technologies and methods used to monitor, assist and enforce driver engagement in traffic. dynamic driving task during autopilot operation.
