German newspaper WELT last week published the full video of Axel Springer SE CEO Mathias Döpfner’s interview with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Döpfner, who is also a reporter for WELT, sat down with Musk at Tesla’s Fremont Factory for a rare interview following the company’s Gigafactory Berlin delivery event in Germany.
Check out the full interview below:
The conversation starts off with Musk sharing his thoughts on the future of energy and artificial intelligence (AI). Musk said that while solar will be the main source of energy for civilization in the future, other (sustainable) mediums, including nuclear power, will have roles to play as well.
The Tesla CEO went on to explicitly oppose Germany’s decision to shut down its nuclear power plants, calling the move “total madness.” Germany plans to power down its three remaining nuclear plants by the end of 2022.
Musk also talked about Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. When Russia started the war, it also hacked several Ukrainian satellites and took down communications networks in the country, including terrestrial internet.
Musk’s space technology company, SpaceX, came to the rescue shortly after by enabling Starlink, its high-speed satellite internet service, in the country. Starlink has kept Ukraine online and connected to the rest of the world, and it has even helped coordinate emergency efforts in the region.
Musk said he doesn’t believe he’s the wealthiest person in the world. “I think Putin is significantly richer than me,” he said.
Musk also gave us an update on Optimus — the humanoid robot Tesla is developing and originally unveiled back in August of last year.
“I think we will have something pretty good at the prototype level this year, and it might be ready for at least a moderate volume production towards the end of next year,” said Musk.
When asked what he wants to most urgently achieve, the electric vehicle (EV) pioneer said he wants to accomplish “completing full self-driving” and getting Starship not only to orbit but also to “achieving full and rapid reusability” in the short term. “And I think those things might happen this year,” Musk added.
Tesla is planning to roll out its Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta to all of its North American customers who have purchased the $12,000 USD ($10,600 CAD) upgrade sometime this year.
When asked about his biggest fear, the Tesla CEO talked about the falling global birth rate, which he described as “the biggest single threat to the future of human civilization.” Musk said his “biggest hope is that humanity creates a self-sustaining city on Mars.”
