The buzz around Tesla’s humanoid Optimus robot is getting louder — and this time, it’s not just coming from Elon Musk.
SpaceX VP Jon Edwards, who also serves as the Product Director for Falcon 9 and was the Lead Engineer of the original Falcon 1, took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his awe after visiting Tesla’s Optimus lab. “I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Optimus lab a couple of weeks ago and my mind is still reeling,” he wrote in a post on Wednesday.
“It felt like I was peeking into the future. We’re in the pre-Optimus era right now, think life before smartphones or the internet. Everything is about to change.”
Edwards’ remarks underscore just how transformative Tesla believes its Optimus robot will be — not just for the company, but for the world at large. The comparison to the pre-smartphone or pre-internet era hints at a looming technological shift that could rival some of the biggest revolutions of the past century.
While details on widespread deployment and a commercial launch timeline remain scarce, CEO Elon Musk did confirm today that the latest iteration — Optimus V3 — already includes integration with Grok, xAI’s conversational AI. Responding to an X user, Musk confirmed that the third-generation Optimus design already has a Grok-powered voice assistant feature.
Grok, Tesla’s in-house AI assistant, is designed to enable real-time, natural voice interaction. This means that Optimus can now not only see and move, but also talk and think with impressive context awareness.
Tesla continues to push the boundaries of AI and robotics. Last week, the company hit a major milestone in its autonomous driving ambitions with the launch of its Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.
Musk previously said that Optimus will enter limited production in 2025, and excitement is building fast. Between Musk’s lofty promises for the humanoid robot and now public endorsements from top SpaceX leadership, Optimus is squarely positioned as Tesla’s next moonshot.
