On December 28, the Weibo topic Tesla concealed the number of factory robots attacking workers, Tesla robots broke out and injured people, both on the hot search, Musk posted on the X platform on Wednesday local time, responding to reports about a robot in Tesla's factory "attacking" an engineer.
About the Tesla bot "attack" on the engineer.
Musk responded.
On the 27th, it was reported that in 2021, there was an incident in which a robot "attacked" an engineer at a Tesla factory, when a robot that processed aluminum car parts suddenly pressed an engineer, and then scratched his back and arm with his metal claws, leaving a "blood stain" on the factory floor. In order to attract the attention of readers, this report is also deliberately accompanied by Tesla's "Optimus Prime" humanoid robot**, although this robot was only released in 2022.
Whole Mars Catalog user commented: "This article, published in the 'Science' section of the Daily Mail, looks like Optimus Prime has decided to attack an engineer. They are actually talking about the KUKA robot injury incident that occurred at the factory in 2021. While injuries are scary, it doesn't mean the robots will rebel. ”
Another X user commented: "'Attack' means it made a decision. The robot was completely programmed. Apparently, the staff member thought it was closed, but it wasn't. ”
To this, Musk responded: "Exactly. They are shameless, turning over the damage caused by a simple industrial Kuka robotic arm two years ago (which is present in all factories) and suggesting that it is now caused by Optimus Prime. ”
1 in 21 workers were injured".
Tesla is accused of concealing the number of work-related injuries.
In addition, Tesla has been accused of underreporting the number of work-related injuries. According to the Daily Mail, Hannah Alexander, a lawyer representing contract workers at the Tesla factory, told reporters that based on her conversations with workers, she believes the number of injuries at the factory was underreported. According to the Associated Press, the lawyer further pointed out that Tesla apparently whitewashed the injuries of workers in order to obtain Texas and federal subsidies. Many of the workers she spoke to said their injuries were not reported.
According to a survey by the American magazine "Information", almost one in every 21 workers in Tesla's factories was injured on the job in 2022, while the industry average is one in every 30 workers.
Previously, Tesla was sought after by the industry because of its efficient automated production facilities. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that between 2017 and 2019, he painstakingly reformed and finally achieved mass production ramp-up. Nearly all of Tesla's component production is 75% automated.
Hannah Alexander also stressed that because the Texas Gigafactory is so large that it is the size of 100 football fields, it has not completed all of its construction, but only partially operated it. This semi-finished factory may also be responsible for the above-average injury rate among the plant's workers.
Musk has said that Tesla's robots were originally positioned to replace people in repetitive, boring and dangerous jobs. But the long-term goal is for it to serve thousands of households, such as cooking, mowing lawns, and caring for the elderly. Currently, engineers are working to reduce the power consumption and number of parts of the Optimus Prime robot.
As of December 27 local time**, Tesla's stock price closed at 261$44, up 188%, with a total market capitalization of $831.1 billion.
Bay Area Finance and Economics Comprehensive Reading and Entrepreneurship Finance, X Platform, Finance Associated Press, Daily Economic News and other reports.
Editor: Xiaoya.