Tesla is converting part of its Fremont, California factory into a production line for Optimus, the company’s humanoid robot, with initial manufacturing runs expected in the third quarter of 2026, according to a summary of Tesla’s Q2 2026 earnings call. The space is the same production line that used to build the Model S and Model X, which Tesla stopped manufacturing earlier this year.
On the earnings call, held after Tesla released its second-quarter 2026 financial results on July 22, CEO Elon Musk described Optimus as the hardest manufacturing ramp Tesla has ever attempted. “The production scaling challenge is very substantial. The hardest product to scale, the hardest one they’ve ever made at Tesla,” Musk said, according to a transcript of the call published by Shacknews. He added that construction at the Fremont factory for Optimus began after Tesla decommissioned the Model S and X lines, with production anticipated later this year.
Early robots built at Fremont are expected to go through what Tesla calls “Optimus Academy,” an internal program meant to collect training data and refine the robot’s software before wider production, per the earnings call summary. Tesla is also continuing site development and construction at Gigafactory Texas for a dedicated Optimus facility, where a later version of the robot, referred to as Optimus V4, is planned to be built with components designed to be easier to manufacture than the version now starting at Fremont.
None of this changes anything about buying, delivering, or owning a Tesla car today. Optimus is a separate product built in a separate part of the factory, and Tesla hasn’t given a price or delivery timeline for it. But it does answer a question GetTesla readers have asked since Tesla wound down the Model S and X: the Fremont space isn’t sitting idle. It’s being retooled for the company’s next major manufacturing bet.
Photo by Freek Wolsink.