Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot is making waves once again, this time showcasing its running abilities in a new video shared by the official Tesla Optimus account. The clip captures the bot smoothly jogging across Tesla’s lab, surrounded by a wall of other Optimus units charging up. The account proudly announced, “Just set a new PR in the lab,” demonstrating a surprisingly natural gait with minimal wobble and impressive stability compared to earlier versions.
One of the underrated features highlighted in the video is Optimus’s autonomous charging capability. The robot can detect when it’s running low on power, locate the nearest charging station, navigate to it independently, and back into the charger using only its rear-facing cameras. The sight of a lineup of robots quietly powering themselves adds a futuristic touch that is becoming a reality in Tesla’s present.
Fresh off the showcase of Optimus V2.5 at NeurIPS 2025 in San Diego, attendees were treated to a close-up look at the robot’s incredibly humanlike 22-degree-of-freedom hands. A clip from the event showcased the robot’s fingers flexing, waving, and moving with uncanny realism, leaving many attendees in awe.
However, the V2.5 design won’t remain the flagship for long. Elon Musk announced during Tesla’s Q3 earnings call that Optimus V3 is set to debut in early 2026, promising a robot so lifelike that you’ll need to touch it to believe it’s not human.
On the production front, Tesla’s humanoid robot program is rapidly accelerating. The company has started constructing a massive new Optimus manufacturing facility at Gigafactory Texas, with plans to produce up to 10 million units (or “Optimi,” as Musk confirmed the plural form) annually. Pilot production has already commenced at the Fremont Factory, with Tesla aiming to reach an annual rate of 1 million robots by late 2026.
Several Optimus units are currently deployed across Tesla’s factories and engineering offices, handling basic real-world tasks. The company intends to use them for more complex factory processes starting next year. Tesla aims for a manufacturing cost of around $20,000 per robot once it reaches scale, with Musk envisioning Optimus as a core pillar of the company’s future, potentially representing up to 80% of Tesla’s total valuation.
The Optimus program is also attracting top talent, with Tesla recently hiring a machine learning and robotics engineer from Apple to join its Optimus AI team. This move signifies the company’s commitment to building expertise as it progresses towards large-scale deployment.
With running demonstrations, autonomous charging capabilities, and significant factory construction underway, Optimus is swiftly transitioning from an R&D project to a product that Tesla is determined to mass-produce in the near future. The future of robotics at Tesla looks promising, with Optimus leading the charge towards innovation and efficiency.