Tesla's Profit Drops 43% as Musk Starts Building Robots and Plans to Sell Driverless Cabs

What happened

Tesla earned $787 million last quarter, down from $1.37 billion, as spending on robots and self-driving cars soared. Decrypt News Business Tesla's Profit Drops 43% as Musk Starts Building Robots and Plans to Sell Driverless Cabs Tesla earned $787 million last quarter, down from $1.37 billion, as spending on robots and self-driving cars soared. Tesla is an automotive and solar company based in Palo Alto.

Tesla began producing Optimus humanoid robots in Fremont, California; Musk targets 20,000 a week but says that will take at least a year, with outside deliveries around the end of 2027. Optimus is in production, and Tesla aims to get Cybercabs to customers by year-end.

In brief Tesla's third-quarter net income fell 43% to $787 million on flat revenue of $28.05 billion, as research spending rose 69% and capital expenditures more than doubled to $4.73 billion. Tesla says it is trying to get Cybercabs to customers by the end of 2026 while a federal safety audit is open, with its sworn answers to regulators due October 30.

Tesla’s profit fell 43% last quarter to $787 million, down from $1.37 billion a year earlier, per its quarterly filing . The carmaker poured money into humanoid robots and driverless taxis while delivering about 2% fewer cars.

Revenue stayed flat at $28.05 billion, but operating profit, which is what’s left after the costs of running the business, fell 56% to $718 million. Research spending rose 69% to $2.76 billion, and capital expenditures, the money spent on factories and equipment, more than doubled to $4.73 billion.

That spending targets two products headed for factory floors and city streets. Optimus is a humanoid (a robot built in roughly human shape) robot meant to take over dangerous and repetitive jobs, and the Cybercab is a two-seat robotaxi (a self-driving taxi you summon from an app) with no steering wheel or pedals.