TMTPost -- Tesla Inc. showcases the latest development of its most promising growth engines in the future including the general-purpose robotic humanoid in China, the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) giant’s largest overseas market.

Credit：Tesla

Optimus Gen 2, Tesla’s  second generation humanoid robot, drw huge attention at the 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WDIC) held in Shanghai from July 4 to 7. even though the robot was displayed in a glass case. Optimus Gen 2 has the ability to walk 30% faster than its predecessor, an official at Tesla told the state-run newspaper Shanghai Securities News. Fingers of the robot has "evolved" to such a point where in addition to perception and touch, it can also lightly hold eggs and carry heavy objects with ease, the paper cited the official.  

Optimus Gen 2 is equipped with in-house designed actuators and sensors to enable it to walk much faster. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in May that Optimus’ hands will be upgraded to have 22 degrees of freedom (DoF). That’s already very close to a human’s hands, which have 27 degrees of freedom. “Optimus hands are among the best 5-finger, dexterous robot hands in the world. It’s got tactile sensing, 11 degrees of freedom (DoF) compared to many competitors with only 6-7 DoF, and robustness to withstand lots of object interactions without constant maintenance,” Jim Fan, senior research scientist at Nvidia Corporation, commented on a video Tesla unveiled in May.

Tesla said last month it has two Optimus robots that autonomously move around the company's office and laboratories every day. It also said it had started deploying two Optimus bots in its Gigafactory Texas, performing tasks autonomously.The tasks it was responsible for included sorting battery cells and other simple things. Tesla said it would be able to eliminate monotonous work that is boring to humans when its first-generation robot was unveiled.

At Tesla’s annual stockholder meeting that month, Musk revealed Optimus Gen 2 is being produced for $10,000 and there will be over 1,000, or a few thousand Optimus robots working at Tesla in 2025. Musk expected Optimus robots some day will perform like R2-D2 and C-3PO in “Star Wars.” They could cook or clean for you, do factory work, or even teach your children, the chief executive suggested. As for shareholder value, Musk believes Optimus could be the catalyst for lifting Tesla’s market cap to $25 trillion someday.

Tesla also presented its its Full Self-driving (FSD) advanced driver assistant and its battery electric Cybertruck at the WDIC. The company was reported late May that it get FSD software registered with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which oversees information technology, mail, telecommunications and software industry. A successful registration will lay the groundwork for Tesla’s internal FSD test, during which employees will drive on China’s public roads before a launch in the Chinese market in the coming months, according to a Reuters report.This is the latest sign of Tesla’s possible push for FSD launch in China, which would give a boost for the EV giant’s revenue and profits at a time when both are weighed by intense competition from BYD Co., Ltd. and other Chinese rivals.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s surprising visit in April has stirred speculation about looming FSD rollout in China. Musk was reported to meet officials in China about rollout of FSD system in China and permission to transfer data overseas, though the state-run media didn’t confirmed it yet.

The Cybertruck is the world's first car to adopt a 48V low-voltage architecture, which revolutionizes the industry's traditional architecture that has been used for more than 70 years, greatly improves the overall energy efficiency of the vehicle, and expands space for the deployment of more intelligent functions. It is also the first mass-produced model to use wire-controlled steering, which means the vehicle’s steering is entirely powered by electricity, achieving safer and more sensitive steering control. At Tesla shareholders' meeting in mid-June, Musk said that his company has set a weekly Cybertruck output record of 1,300 units, and it aims to reach 2,500 units per week by the end of the year.