Tesla is tracking to have a working prototype humanoid robot by the end of September

Elon Musk says that Tesla is tracking to have a working prototype humanoid robot, Tesla Optimus, by the end of September.

Last month, Musk announced “Tesla AI Day #2” with “many cool updates” on August 19.

The original “Tesla AI Day” held last year was an event focused on the company’s self-driving program. The automaker also unveiled its Dojo supercomputer and announced plans for the “Tesla Bot” humanoid robot – now known as Tesla Optimus.

The AI Day #2 was supposed to be held a year to the day after the first one, but Musk took to Twitter earlier this month to delay the event to September 30. As for the reason for the delay, the CEO said that Tesla may have a working prototype of Optimus by then.

Today, during an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum, Musk said that Tesla is “tracking” toward having a working prototype of its humanoid robot:

Well, I hope that we will have an interesting prototype to show people. We have a very talented team at Tesla that I’m working with closely to have a prototype humanoid robot ready by the end of September. And I think we are tracking to that point.

The CEO also teased other things to be unveiled during the event that will position Tesla as more than an automaker and more like a “real-world AI company”:

And there’ll be a few other exciting things that we talk about at the Tesla AI Day. We have these sort of AI Day events to just emphasize that Tesla is a lot more than a car company and that we are, in my view, the leading real-world AI company that exists.

Tesla is expected to give updates on its Dojo supercomputer, which trains its neural nets, and a more general update on its self-driving effort, which is the first real-world application of Tesla’s AI.

During the interview, Musk also called again for an agency to oversee and regulate AI development in order to help steer the technology toward public good.