Elon Musk wants you to believe Tesla is no longer a car company, even if it still looks like one on paper. The company shipped nearly half a million vehicles last quarter, and car sales generated roughly 70% of its revenue.
Yet, for the past several years, Musk has been steadily making the case that Tesla is fundamentally an AI and robotics company—even if some of that AI happens to reside in cars. While the financials tell a more grounded story, Musk's attention has clearly shifted toward the futuristic side of the business: projects like the Optimus humanoid robot and fully autonomous robotaxis. Meanwhile, the day-to-day concerns of a traditional automaker have been relegated to the background.
To quantify this shift, TechCrunch partnered with Hudson Labs, a New York-based financial research firm, to analyze what Musk and Tesla's other executives have discussed on the company's quarterly earnings calls over the past seven years. The startup sourced call transcripts from S&P Market Intelligence, dating back to 2019, and used its Co-Analyst—an AI tool designed for high-precision financial research—to assign a topic to each sentence and track their frequency over time.
Musk's Shift Toward AI and Autonomy
The data reveals a striking trend: Musk now spends nearly 50% of his speaking time on earnings calls discussing artificial intelligence, robotaxis, and Full Self-Driving software. That's a significant jump from earlier years; in 2022, for instance, he typically devoted only 15% to 20% of his remarks to these topics.
This shift has been accompanied by Musk's persistent argument that autonomy alone justifies Tesla's sky-high valuation. "If you value Tesla as just an auto company—fundamentally, it's the wrong framework," he said on the Q1 2024 earnings call. "If somebody doesn't believe Tesla is going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company."
The Rise of Robotics and Optimus
Talk of robotics has surged dramatically in the last three years. Tesla first revealed its humanoid robot, Optimus, in 2021. In the following year, Musk spent 2% or less of his time on it. But in the past year, Optimus has accounted for at least 10% of his remarks—and on the Q3 2025 call, it consumed nearly a third of his speaking time.
This pivot comes as Tesla's core automotive business has hit a growth plateau. As a result, Musk now spends less than a third of his earnings call time discussing cars and manufacturing. On that same Q3 2025 call, he devoted less than 20% of his comments to the automotive segment.
Executives Lag Behind Musk's Vision
Other Tesla executives who participate in these calls—such as Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja and Vice President of Engineering Lars Moravy—have been far slower to reallocate their attention. Even on the most recent calls, they still dedicate around 30% of their speaking time to the automotive business. Their next most common topics are AI, robotaxi, and Full Self-Driving, indicating that while they've shifted somewhat, they remain grounded in the company's current revenue drivers.
This divergence suggests that Musk's enthusiasm for AI and robotics is not yet fully shared by his leadership team—likely because these ventures have yet to generate meaningful revenue. As of 2026, the focus on AI and robotics is expected to intensify, with Tesla ramping up Optimus production plans and expanding its robotaxi network in select markets. However, the gap between Musk's narrative and Tesla's financial reality remains a key tension for investors to watch.
via TechCrunch AI