Elon Musk has spent recent years arguing that Tesla is more than a carmaker, even though the company still sells cars. In the latest quarter Tesla shipped nearly half a million vehicles and about 70% of its revenue came from car sales. Despite those financial realities, Musk’s public attention has shifted strongly toward artificial intelligence and robotics projects such as the Optimus humanoid and fully autonomous robotaxis.
How the analysis was done
TechCrunch partnered with Hudson Labs, a New York–based financial research firm, to map topics discussed on Tesla’s quarterly earnings calls dating back to 2019. Transcripts from S&P Market Intelligence were analyzed with Hudson Labs’ Co-Analyst, an AI tool designed for high-precision financial research, which assigned a topic to each sentence and then counted frequencies.
Key findings
- Musk now spends nearly 50% of his speaking time on AI, robotaxis and Full Self-Driving (FSD) topics, up from roughly 15–20% in 2022.
- He has repeatedly argued that autonomy justifies Tesla’s valuation; on the Q1 2024 call he said, “If somebody doesn’t believe Tesla is going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company.”
Optimus and robotica have grown in prominence
Tesla disclosed work on the Optimus humanoid robot in 2021. In the year that followed, Musk devoted around 2% or less of his remarks to the project. Over the past year he has spent at least 10% of his comments promoting Optimus, and on the third-quarter 2025 call Optimus accounted for nearly a third of his focus.
Automotive topics have declined in call time
Musk’s increased emphasis on futuristic AI and robotics coincided with a slowdown in Tesla’s core automotive growth. As a result, he now spends less than a third of earnings-call time on cars and manufacturing. On the same third-quarter call last year, he spent under 20% of his remarks on the automotive business.
Other executives lag in the shift
Other executives who appear on Tesla’s calls, including Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja and Vice President of Engineering Lars Moravy, have shifted their attention more slowly. On recent calls they have spent about 30% of their time on automotive topics; their next-most frequent subjects are AI, robotaxi and FSD. Previously these executives dedicated nearly 50% (or more) of call time to making and selling cars, but that changed in 2024 as competition increased from legacy automakers and new Chinese entrants.
Tone and outlook
When other executives join Musk in speaking about future technology, their rhetoric can match his optimism. On the Q2 call this year Vaibhav Taneja said, “The path to amazing abundance is ever challenging and requires making bold bets. Our progress will be non-linear. The future is going to be great.”
The TechCrunch and Hudson Labs analysis shows a clear communications shift: Tesla’s public quarterly-discussion topics have moved markedly from immediate automotive issues toward AI and robotics, even as the company’s revenues remain largely driven by car sales.
