Tesla’s AI-powered robot is doing a meet and greet in London

Tesla’s AI-powered robot, Optimus, is set to make its UK debut at a special meet-and-greet session in London, and the general public is invited to come along and say hello.

From 8am till 8pm on Saturday 13 December, visitors to Tesla Westfield London at the shopping centre in White City will be able to interact with Elon Musk’s new so-called ‘Tesla Bot’ – a humanoid robot powered by AI and designed specifically for what the firm describes as “unsafe, repetitive, and boring tasks”.

This is the first time an example of Optimus has been publicly displayed on UK soil and comes soon after an embarrassing incident in which a new Gen 3 model glitched and fell over when handing out water bottles at Tesla’s ‘The Future of Autonomy Visualized’ event in Miami, Florida.

The event at Westfield will hopefully be a little less eventful, however, because Tesla says Optimus will be at its showroom “handing out popcorn, posing for photos and celebrating the holidays.” The RSVP on Tesla’s website also says that the first 50 attendees will receive an undefined “Tesla holiday gift” – although we’re not sure this means a brand-new Tesla Model Y wrapped up with a bow.

If you are after a new electric car, though, Auto Express’ Buy a Car service has great deals on all of the most popular electric models from many of the most popular brands – perfect, if you want to treat yourself to a new set of wheels in time for Christmas.

Likewise, Tesla believes Optimus will eventually become the gift that keeps on giving, estimating that it could eventually make up as much as 80 per cent of the company’s profits. Others are more sceptical, however, with reports that many of the examples that have thus far appeared in the public eye were secretly controlled by other robots, rather than Tesla’s own AI software. These rumours are yet to be proven, though.

In the meantime, Tesla hopes its automotive department will go from strength to strength with the introduction of the entry-level Model Y Standard in the UK. Musk’s electric family SUV has long been the nation’s best-selling EV and the firm hopes that the Standard’s lower £42,000 entry point will encourage more people into the brand.

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