Welcome, Elon, and thanks for taking the time. I really understand that time is precious. There's a ton of things to do to build a world of amazing abundance and so many things. I can hardly imagine what's on your mind: SpaceX, Starlink, AI, safe AI for the future, autopilot, so many things. But what is in your view still exciting about Tesla and why?
Well, I think Tesla is one of the most exciting companies in the world. You know, it's perhaps the most exciting, but you know, Tesla and SpaceX, let me say, are the two most exciting companies. So we're obviously expanding production. We're making more cars. We're going to roll out Tesla full self-driving, which is really an AI-driven car. So it's Tesla AI software that drives the car just by looking like a human does. So Tesla has the most advanced real-world AI and hopefully it will be approved soon in Europe. We were told by the authorities that March 20th it'll be approved in the Netherlands was what I was told. Hopefully that date remains the same. But I think people in Europe are going to be pretty blown away by how good the Tesla car AI is in being able to drive. And I think this year really it will be the case that from a technical standpoint you'll be able to fall asleep in a Tesla and wake up at your destination. So that's very exciting. We've got the Optimus program which is going to be the first humanoid robot. And I think sometimes people say well what would that be used for? Well, who wouldn't want their own personal C3PO R2-D2? But even better, and you can think of all the reasons like do you need a robot to take care of your kids or walk the dog or take care of elderly parents or something like that, then Optimus can do those things. So that's very exciting. And yeah, we're going to be starting production of the Tesla Cybercab here at Giga Texas. We have started production, I should say. But we'll go to scale production in April. Or start volume production April and have significant production towards the end of the year. And if things go well we would probably manufacture Cybercab in Europe as well and also manufacture Optimus in Europe. So we've got the Tesla Semi coming out. So the Tesla heavy truck and that'll be going to Europe hopefully next year. There's so many things happening. It's a long list.
It's a long list to make it an exciting company.
Yeah. Oh, and battery cell production. We're going to start making battery cells at Giga Berlin. We have the Tesla lithium refinery that's started up in Texas and the Tesla nickel cathode refinery that's started up here in Austin. It's really this year is a tremendous number of things. We've got five factories starting volume production this year. Five major production lines. We look forward to extending that to Europe as well.
And I guess looking a little bit back, Tesla hasn't done anything less but really transforming a whole industry. I think without Tesla taking that brave step to electrify mobility, the industry wouldn't be where it is today. What would you want people to say about Tesla? Let's just say in 10 or 20 years from now.
In 20 years, I'd say Tesla's got factories on the moon. Actually, I see a very prosperous future for Tesla. It's difficult to predict anything in 20 years, but if you say like I think 5 years to 10 years, I could say Tesla has an extremely bright future. And I would say like hold on to your Tesla stock. You know it's going to be worth a lot. I think that's my bet.
Very cool. Coming back to the present, if you look, I mean you're always very well informed. If you look to the European industry especially to the automotive sector or even the German industry and automotive sector, what do you think about it? What do you believe are the main reasons for their current state?
Well, I think there's not been enough innovation in automotive. Innovation has been relatively low. So the cars that are being produced are very much like the cars that were produced 5 years ago. There's not big differences. You know, I've said for a long time really that the automotive industry, I said this for 20 plus years, needs to go towards electrification. And this would be true even without environmental concerns. So, an electric vehicle is a fundamentally better architecture than a gasoline combustion vehicle. It is much simpler, it is more efficient, it's quieter, there's no pollution within cities. So really all ground transport should be electric and I think all ships and eventually all planes should be electric. But the automotive industry has strongly resisted electrification. They've dragged their feet and they had to be pushed there by government and then whenever they've had any opportunity to reduce the production of electric vehicles they've done so. So this is just not a good strategic move. It doesn't make sense. And also making vehicles autonomous is critical. Like I think it was like 10 years ago I said that in the future any vehicle that is not electric and autonomous, like if you're riding a vehicle you have to drive yourself that is gasoline powered, it's going to be like riding a horse and using a flip phone which is to say that there's still some people somewhere that ride horses but not zero horses. It's just rare. And some people somewhere are still using flip phones but there's not many. It's going to be a niche thing. So the future does not contain combustion vehicles and there will be very few vehicles that are not autonomous. The future is autonomous electric vehicles.
Sure. And so if the automotive industry does not move in that direction, they will be left out. So it doesn't really sound like we should or could even be learning much from the legacy automakers. I guess it really sounds like we should be focusing on us and what we believe the future looks like, right?
Yes. I mean you can always learn something from some competitor but strategically they're just headed in the direction of the dinosaurs. So they're not headed for a good place. You know the dinosaurs are not around anymore. So we certainly are going in a very different path. Like you said electric autonomous is the obvious, to me it's been blindingly obvious for 20 years plus. But you know, what I found with competitors in the automotive industry it's not that they're going to steal our ideas. You can't cram a good idea down their throat. Like if you say you must have this good idea, they're not going to steal our ideas. We can't even force feed them our good ideas. That's been my experience. So we need to do what's logical, what's sensible, and at Tesla, we're essentially creating the future. And it's a good future.
We are building a future. They just build cars.
Yeah. It's a good future. Future with electric vehicles that don't emit poison gas literally, that are quiet, efficient, and like I said autonomous. The car instead of having to be stuck in traffic driving through busy roads and sometimes people may fall asleep or they may have a medical emergency. And then if you're driving yourself and you're on the autobahn going super fast and you have a seizure or heart attack or something then you could die. But if the car is autonomous it can take you to a hospital. In fact this has actually happened many times with Tesla cars.
Really cool. So if we look at Giga Berlin specifically, but 6 years ago nearly we broke ground, four years ago we started production. I have a ton of memories. I know you have memories about it as well. What are like the greatest memories? What do you tell people when I ask you about Giga Berlin and the people of Giga Berlin?
Well I mean first of all I'd like to say thank you very much to everyone that's helped build Giga Berlin. Thank you, Andre, and thank you to the whole team. Because we've gotten an amazing factory built in a very short period of time. And gotten to high volume production with good quality and good cost control. So I'm very proud of Giga Berlin and all the people in it.
Yeah, it's just cool. I like the art too, you know, the art and that people have some fun. So coming to work should be something you look forward to. So you're coming to work with people that you enjoy working with. You're doing useful things. You're making things. So I have a lot of respect for makers. Like you actually make something. You build something useful. Build something useful that people enjoy. Like I'm a big fan of makers and there's a lot of people who I don't know, they don't make things. They just hang around.
They don't make things or they don't provide useful services. Whereas I have huge respect for people who make things and provide useful services. And it's an honest day's work, you know. So thank you.
I mean I don't know if you do have but if you have a vision for Giga Berlin, what would it be and what do you think would have to happen for it to become true?
Yeah, I think ideally we would significantly expand production at Giga Berlin. So we'd also do high volume production of battery cells. Probably also the cathode, the anode, lithium. So become vertically integrated. And produce things like the Cybercab or Optimus and other products that Tesla will develop. So I think the exciting vision for the future of Giga Berlin is massively expanding it to do many more projects.
Very cool. Do you have any advice for the team at Giga Berlin to basically work towards that vision?
Well, things certainly get harder if there are outside organizations that are pushing Tesla in the wrong direction. If there are outside organizations that are pushing Tesla in the wrong direction, then it's difficult to say that we would expand if we have an outside organization making things very difficult. I mean that's just the truth. We're not going to shut down the factory, but we're not going to expand it either, realistically.
So, as I said, I have a bunch of questions, so I just turn my tablet around and then feel free to comment on them.
Hi, Elon. Which is your favorite factory?
Maybe 4. Well, you know, a favorite factory is like saying what's your favorite child. It's not a fair question. No, it's a question. I love factories, honestly. I think a lot of people these days don't love factories or they haven't even been to a factory. But whereas I've walked the line in every factory and I'm a big fan of factories. I love factories.
This is a great place to be.
Yeah, it's like you make things that have good utility. People love the product. Making a product people love is great. Makes you a profit. Totally. So, Giga Berlin is an awesome factory. Yeah. So, the vibe in there is cool. Like you walk around, it's very clean. And it's quite beautiful inside and outside and people seem quite happy and we're making cars and soon battery cells. Hopefully many more things.
