Musk to stay as Tesla CEO

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk confirms he’ll remain in that role in spite of rumours to the contrary.

Musk told the annual shareholders’ meeting (aka “Cyber Roundup”) in Texas on May 16 that he wants to oversee the progression of artificial intelligence (AI) at Tesla to “ensure it’s good”.

He also believes AI will be the future for Tesla, especially its “Optimus” humanoid robot, expecting almost every household to want one or two, so the company could make “10 billion or 20 billion units”. “it will be a big number,” says Musk, adding the robot is likely to boost Tesla’s profitability.

He plans to talk more about the Optimus project as part of Tesla’s next earnings call.

Musk says he will reduce his time at Twitter, while he is also involved with SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, OpenAI, Zip2, SolarCity, and others and he suggests some advertising of Tesla’s EVs may be needed – to the cheers of shareholders at the meeting.

Asked about Cybertruck production and whether Tesla plans a “recreational vehicle” (RV), Musk expects Cybertruck production to start later this year and ramp up according to demand, adding it will have RV (camping) capability.

“We could produce a quarter million a year, maybe more depending on demand. We could have 500,000 – we will make as many as people want.”

Cost efficiency in Cybertruck production is key, according to Musk.

He warns that, like many automotive manufacturers, Tesla is not immune to the global economy, predicting tough times for the next year before it improves.

Musk adds that Tesla expects full self-driving (FSD) will soon be available as a software update (Tesla intends improving its over-the-air updates as well) and says the change will be “as profound as electrification”.

Earlier, Musk had said Tesla would prioritise sales growth ahead of profit after it missed its margin target due to aggressive price cuts.

Asked about lithium supply, Musk says mining is not the issue – rather Tesla is developing its own refining as battery grade lithium is important and that most of Tesla’s lithium comes from Australia.