Tesla AI Day 2022: How to watch, and our top 5 predictions

Image: Tesla

After all the buzz that Optimus created last year, it can be expected that the humanoid robot will be at the forefront of this year's event. Musk unofficially confirmed that Optimus would be a topic of discussion at this year's event by switching the event date from Aug. 19 to Sept. 30, due to the possible availability of an Optimus prototype on the later date.  

Tesla AI Day pushed to Sept 30, as we may have an Optimus prototype working by then

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2022

So what is the hype about Optimus? Besides its futuristic design that makes it look like it came right out of a sci-fi movie, Optimus is garnering attention because it is a humanoid robot powered by Tesla's AI that could revolutionize the way people do things.

Looking at holding Tesla AI Day in about a month or so. Will go over progress with Tesla AI software & hardware, both training & inference. Purpose is recruiting.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2021

On the Tesla website, under the Tesla Bot portion, Tesla says it is looking for talent to further develop Optimus. Therefore, this is further confirmation that Tesla will talk about Optimus at the event to fill the talent void. 

"We're seeking mechanical, electrical, controls and software engineers to help us leverage our AI expertise beyond our vehicle fleet," according to Tesla's website.   

2. Self-driving cars

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Musk has shown he is very passionate about self-driving vehicle technology, proclaiming via Twitter, "Self-driving electric cars will be all that matters. Gas car without autonomy will be like riding a horse & using a flip phone. That still happens, but it's niche." 

Since Musk first announced the idea in 2016, there have been several new release dates each year, which all came up short. He even promised a Tesla self-autonomous trip from NYC to LA, which got delayed to 2017, then 2018, and is yet to happen. So we can expect another update at this event, hopefully with a firm date that comes before the end of the year. 

Tesla's promised self-driving technology would significantly diverge from existing features -- there will be no driver needed at all. 

The Tesla Cybertruck is also not a brand-new concept -- it was originally introduced in 2019. Since its original announcement, the Cybertruck production date keeps getting pushed back further and further. For this reason alone, we could expect the much-anticipated Cybertruck to be a star of the Tesla AI Day. However, yesterday Elon Musk tweeted that the vehicle could also "briefly" function as a boat.

With such a sensational claim being announced one day before Tesla AI Day, we are almost certain the Cybertruck will be talked about at the event.  

Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren’t too choppy

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 29, 2022

The electric pickup truck has a unique, geometric design that is unlike any trucks you currently see on the road. The Tesla website claims that the truck offers "better utility than a truck with more performance than a sports car."

After test-driving the truck in January, Musk teased that the Cybertruck is "awesome."

Been driving latest Cybertruck prototype around Giga Texas. It’s awesome!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2022

Today, we can expect Musk to give us an update on the details of this pickup-boat-truck tomorrow, as well as details as to when we can expect the Cybertruck to be produced and shipped to the public.

Dojo refers to Tesla's in-house supercomputer for machine learning -- an AI-training machine. "Dojo is a neural network training computer optimized for video (for self-driving)," said Musk via Twitter.

Dojo, our training supercomputer, will be able to process vast amounts of video training data & efficiently run hypersparce arrays with a vast number of parameters, plenty of memory & ultra-high bandwidth between cores. More on this later.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2020

At Tesla AI Day last year, Tesla announced the Dojo supercomputer. However, at the time the supercomputer was still being developed. This AI Day, we can expect updates on the development of the Dojo program. 

5. Robotaxi

Musk first said that the robotaxi would be on the road by the end of 2020. Over two years later, we are still waiting for self-driving Teslas to be released to the public, much less a self-driving taxi. 

However, a couple of months ago, during Tesla's Q1 2022 earnings call, Musk said: "We aspire to reach volume production of [the robotaxi] in 2024." 

Also: Elon Musk predicts a Tesla robotaxi ride will cost less than a subsidized bus ticket

During this call, Musk also said that the robotaxi would provide the cheapest type of transportation, with a robotaxi ride costing less than a subsidized bus ticket. 

Because of the recent talks of the taxi, it wouldn't be surprising if on Tesla AI Day we get another update. 

Honorable mentions 

Tesla Supercharger V4 

Tesla has yet to officially announce the release of its most advanced supercharger, the Supercharger V4. This charger is supposed to exceed its predecessor, the Supercharger V3, in charging power, with at least 300 kW. 

Also: First Tesla Supercharger V4 will be coming to Arizona

Despite Tesla not announcing the Supercharger, we know what the Supercharger V4 will look like, due to design plans and construction plans that Tesla aficionados dug up and posted on Twitter, and construction plans reveal where the first site will be located.

Despite the increased power output, the design of the Supercharger V4 will remain basically the same. The design plans reveal that it will have the same shape, with the only difference being that the nozzle will be on the outside as opposed to in the hollow inside where it is situated now. 

Tesla supercharger site plans for Danvers, MA appear to now include references to "Alternative Supercharger Posts" in addition to v3 posts. This is probably still a v3 build, but this suggests v4 sites are on the way 😍
Thank you @TeslaCharging pic.twitter.com/FoSB7ZnGpO

— John Harris (@JH_bedford) July 19, 2022

We can expect Musk to announce the release and production of the Supercharger V4 as well as details on appearance, location, and performance. 

New Tesla Factory locations

For months, there have been rumors about where the next Tesla factory will be opened. In June, Tesla held a company-wide meeting with employees in which Musk said he was looking at sites for the construction of the new factory, according to Electrek. 

Musk also said that the new location could possibly not be the US, with sites in Canada and Mexico under consideration as well. This Tesla AI Day would be a great opportunity for Tesla to announce where its next factory will be and what the factory's focus will be. 

Surprise announcements

As mentioned earlier, Tesla has used Tesla AI day to drop surprises, for example, a 5-foot, 8-inch human "robot" last year. Therefore, it wouldn't be surprising if Tesla went rogue from the things on this list and dropped something completely unexpected this year. If you don't want to sit through a 6-hour livestream to find out, don't worry, we will do a roundup with every Tesla update. 

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