After Tesla failed to hit its goal of producing 2,500 Model 3 electric cars a week, CEO Elon Musk says he's figured out what went wrong: robots.
Yes, robots, which are designed to help build lots and lots of Tesla's electric vehicle at an insane speed, are to blame for why customers who pre-ordered the Model 3 still haven't gotten them yet.
In an interview with CBS Good Morning, Musk said the Model 3 is in "production hell" because Tesla used too many robots.
"It's worse than I thought," Musk said. "We have this crazy complex network of conveyor belts and it was not working so we got rid of that whole thing."
When asked if using more humans instead of robots would help speed up production, Musk told CBS that it would and that they need more humans working on the assembly lines.
Earlier this month, Musk made the bold decision to personally fix the Model 3 bottlenecks by getting his hands dirty on the factory floor.
He tweeted about how he had gone "back to sleeping at the factory" and CBS confirmed his surprisingly ordinary sleeping situation as nothing more than a narrow and uncomfortable couch and a sleeping bag in a conference room. Yep, Musk the billionaire, is spending his nights in a sleeping bag at the office.
"We got complacent about some of the things that we thought were our core technology. We put too much new technology into the Model 3 all at once."
"Excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake," Musk reiterated on Twitter. "To be precise, my mistake. Humans are underrated."
Yes, excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake. To be precise, my mistake. Humans are underrated. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2018
You're damn right humans are underrated. Humans > robots. Of course, this shouldn't surprise anyone who follows Musk.
Despite using more technology to further his endless ambitions, including electricity-powered vehicles, landing reusable rockets, sending Teslas into deep space, helping solve traffic jams with the Hyperloop, selling Boring baseball caps, and flamethrowers, Musk has cautioned against over-relying on technology before.
Musk has said AI, if abused or developed incorrectly, could be the downfall of humanity. He's even gone as far as saying AI could trigger World War III.
It's ironic then that over-using technology – robots and automation in this case – is what screwed up the Model 3's production. If Musk has learned anything after this, it's that he should start applying his life philosophy to his work sooner rather than later.