In its latest quarterly report for shareholders, Tesla mentions “robots” three times. Two of those times were in the “Robotics” paragraph/section: “Preparations for our first large-scale Optimus factory will begin shortly in Q2. The first-generation line, designed for 1 million robots a year, will replace the Model S and Model X lines in Fremont. We are also preparing Gigafactory Texas for the second-generation line, which is being designed for long-term annual production capacity of 10 million robots.” So … Tesla ended sales of the Model S and Model X (which weren’t that high anyway these days) in order to start producing the Optimus humanoid robot. Or perhaps those models were being discontinued no matter what and so Elon Musk just decided to use that space to produce the robots. Either way, instead of producing about 40,000 units of the Model X and Model S each year, Tesla plans to build about 1 million robots a year within that same space. But who is Tesla going to sell these robots to? I’ve been waiting to see if there’s some more news on this or more details on who would be buying the robots, but I’m just seeing various news agencies referencing this quarterly announcement. Tesla’s humanoid robots have hardly demonstrated any notable capabilities, but they’re supposed to cost tens of thousands of dollars each once they’re launched. At such a high price (relative to products and food people actually need), it’s truly confusing who is supposed to be buying these up like hotcakes. Normal people can’t plop down $30,000 on a robot companion, and how many super rich people are really going to benefit from one? Well, sales to individual consumers aren’t supposed to begin until the end of next year, 2027. So, these robots are initially supposed to be used in Tesla factories and sold to companies running other factories. But, again, who needs to buy $30,000 humanoid robots that are not actually capable of doin that much?