Tesla's Optimus Robot Production Begins Amidst Profit Drop

Tesla commenced production of its Optimus humanoid robot at its Fremont, California factory, a facility previously used for electric vehicle manufacturing. The company confirmed that the bots rolling off this line are its first production-quality units, signaling a major step towards commercial viability for the robot.

However, this forward-looking development coincided with a challenging third quarter for Tesla. The company's revenue remained flat, while expenses surged due to accelerated investments in Optimus, AI, and autonomous driving technologies. This surge in spending led to a significant 43% reduction in profits compared to the previous year.

While EV sales were flat at $20 billion, and the solar and energy storage business saw a 16% decrease, Tesla's services segment, including Full Self-Driving subscriptions, demonstrated strong performance with 33% year-over-year growth, contributing $4.6 billion.

The company reported $787 million in net income, a considerable drop from $1.37 billion in the same period last year. This decrease was partly due to lower regulatory credit sales. A record $734 million in gross profit from the 'services and other' segment was crucial in keeping the company profitable.