Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed during the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum on Tuesday that the company’s Robotaxi platform would eventually land in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, essentially confirming the intention to grow a driverless fleet of vehicles outside of the United States.

This is the first time Musk has specifically confirmed Tesla’s intention to expand into Saudi Arabia, although based on the company’s plans, a global expansion is more expected than a confined Robotaxi platform that is limited to only the West.

Musk confirmed during the Investment Forum, where the U.S. agreed with the Saudis to a $600 billion investment pledge, that Robotaxi would eventually expand to the country. The CEO did not mention a specific timeframe, but Tesla is set to launch the Robotaxi platform in Austin, Texas, in June.

“Really, you can think of cars, or future cars, as being robots on four wheels. I think it will be very exciting to have autonomous vehicles here in the Kingdom, if you’re amenable.”

🚨 Tesla Robotaxi will be available in Saudi Arabia, Elon Musk confirms:

“You heard it here from Elon! He’s bringing Robotaxi to the Kingdom.” pic.twitter.com/3IeaZezYb8

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— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 13, 2025

As Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite is still supervised, it is expanding to other parts of the globe. Earlier this year, it made its way to China for the first time ever, with many giving rave reviews of the driver assistance platform.

Tesla plans to expand to Europe later this year, but the company is still awaiting regulatory approval from EU agencies, something that will likely take some time to complete.

The big takeaway is that the Robotaxi platform is not confined to a single model, like the Cybercab. Instead, Robotaxi could be any Tesla vehicle, as long as it is capable of unsupervised Full Self-Driving. This is something that will require Tesla to work with local authorities to first launch a Supervised version of the suite, which could then expand to the unsupervised FSD platform, enabling a Robotaxi network in the country.

Nevertheless, Tesla’s relationship with the Middle East seems to be good. The company recently launched the Cybertruck in Saudi Arabia, enabling customer orders just last month.

Tesla confirms Cybertruck will make its way out of North America this year

Additionally, Musk’s Starlink was recently given approval for both maritime and aviation use cases, expanding the relationship between the country and the CEO. This was also confirmed during the Investment Forum today.

Tesla may already have a supercomputer cluster in the Giga Texas complex, but it seems like the electric vehicle maker is not done with its supercomputer plans just yet. Based on images taken of the Giga Texas complex recently, it appears that work is now underway to construct a new facility for Cortex 2.0, a companion to the site’s existing Cortex supercluster.

New Giga Texas Facilities

As per longtime Tesla Gigafactory Texas watcher Joe Tegtmeyer, Tesla has been constructing a facility on the North side of the complex for a few months now. Initially, the site was listed as the Central Campus Support facility, but recently, the filings have been updated as Cortex 2.0. So far, work is underway for the Cortex 2.0 building shell, though permits have already been filed for other parts of the upcoming facility.

The speed of the buildout for the Cortex 2.0 facility is rapid, with the drone operator estimating that the location may be operational as early as late this year. It would also not be surprising if Tesla ends up ramping its activities at Gigafactory Texas’ Cortex 2.0 supercomputer cluster sometime next year.

FSD Training and Beyond

Tesla’s heavy investments in its supercomputer clusters are expected to help the company develop and refine its self-driving system, which is currently deployed in non-autonomous form as Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised. Tesla is expected to launch a robotaxi service in Austin in a few weeks, though these vehicles are expected to use FSD Unsupervised, which would be fully autonomous.

Apart from FSD, Tesla’s Optimus program will likely require a substantial amount of computing power as well. Elon Musk has stated that Tesla should be able to build its first “legion” of Optimus robots this year, with production ramping next year. Considering these ambitious timelines, perhaps Giga Texas’ Cortex 2.0 facility would be fully busy as soon as it becomes operational.

Check out a recent drone flyover of the Giga Texas complex in the video below.

Elon Musk recently shared a Tesla Optimus dance video, showcasing the humanoid robot’s light feet and the company’s quick progress.

In 2021, Tesla announced it would develop a humanoid robot during AI Day. At the time, the company didn’t even have a prototype. To celebrate the announcement, a human dressed as a humanoid robot came out and danced for the crowd at the event. Fast forward a few years, and Tesla’s Optimus bot finally has some moves to show off.

The first time anyone got a real preview of Optimus was in 2022, when Tesla debuted semi-functional prototypes at AI Day. One Tesla Optimus bot walked on stage while another performed some arm movements. At the time, critics noted the Tesla Optimus bot’s reliance on teleoperation for some tasks.

By 2023, Tesla unveiled Optiumus Gen 2, demonstrating advanced tasks like sorting colored blocks, maintaining yoga poses, and some dancing. Tesla also noted that the robot’s hands improved to 11 degrees of freedom (DoF). Tesla Optimus hands in production units have 22 degrees of freedom.

Late last year, Tesla Optimus robots attended the company’s “We, Robot” event, performing tasks like serving drinks and interacting with people in the crowds. Teslarati played rock, paper, scissors with Optimus at “We, Robot.” The Tesla bots danced in synchronicity at the event with their arms and torsos.

Tesla’s progress with Optimus has been quite a ride over the past few years. Now Optimus can add to its dance moves with more flexibility and control over its legs. The recent Tesla Optimus dance video marks the beginning of the next phase for the humanoid robot: production.

According to Tesla’s Q1 2025 updated letter, the company has already started limited production of the Optimus bot at Tesla’s Fremont Factory. Elon Musk announced plans to produce over 1,000 units of Tesla Optimus for internal use in 2025 and external sales by 2026.

Elon Musk claims Tesla Optimus could be “more significant than Tesla’s vehicle business,” with a potential market value of $25 trillion. By automating low-skill, repetitive jobs, the Tesla bot could reshape economies, which Musk believes could lead to an “age of abundance” where goods and services are cheaper.