At CES in Las Vegas, the future of cars and robots shared the same stage, but not the same spotlight from Elon Musk. He publicly encouraged Nvidia’s push into self-driving chips while brushing off its threat to Tesla, yet he had nothing to say about Hyundai and Boston Dynamics rolling out a humanoid robot that looks aimed squarely at Tesla’s own Optimus project. The split response says a lot about where Musk thinks the real competitive danger lies, and where he still believes Tesla holds a comfortable lead.
At CES, Musk welcomes Nvidia’s challenge, on his terms
On the automotive side of CES, Musk positioned himself as both magnanimous rival and unshakable incumbent. When Nvidia unveiled its latest autonomous driving platform, he responded by wishing the company luck and arguing that its self-driving technology is still years away from challenging Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system, a stance reflected in coverage of how Nvidia’s Self-Driving Tech Is Still Years From Challenging Tesla. He framed Tesla’s software and data advantage as so entrenched that even a world-leading chip designer would need a long runway to catch up, reinforcing his narrative that Tesla’s AV stack is the most advanced in the world.
That confidence came with a dose of realism about the grind of turning demos into deployed fleets. Musk has stressed that it is “Super Hard” to solve the distribution and scaling problem for a system like Tesla FSD, a point echoed in reports summarizing his comments under the banner Elon Musk Says It Is “Super Hard” To Solve Distribution As Nvidia Announces Competitor To Tesla FSD, But Adds he “Honestly” hopes they succeed. By acknowledging the difficulty while insisting Tesla is far ahead, he managed to sound both generous and unbothered, casting Nvidia as a fast follower in a race Tesla believes it already leads.
“Not losing any sleep” over Alpamayo and the AV stack
Musk’s relaxed posture hardened into outright dismissal when he talked about Nvidia’s new Alpamayo platform. He has been quoted saying he is “not losing any sleep” over Alpamayo, even as the system is pitched as a comprehensive AI brain for autonomous vehicles, a sentiment captured in coverage of how Elon Musk isn’t ‘losing any sleep’ over Nvidia’s self-driving tech. In his telling, Tesla’s years of real-world driving data and end-to-end neural networks give it a moat that a fresh AV model family cannot cross quickly.
Analysts have noted that Musk’s comments came as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang used CES to introduce Alpamayo as a new family of open AI models for autonomous driving, with the explicit goal of powering a next-generation FSD-style experience for automakers that do not want to build everything in-house. Reports on those remarks emphasize that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is pitching Alpamayo as a way to leapfrog slower software efforts, while Musk insists those AV models will not threaten Tesla’s FSD for several years. The gap between those two narratives is the battleground for automaker partnerships and investor expectations.
Hyundai’s Atlas moment, and Musk’s curious silence
While Musk was verbose about chips and code, he had nothing to say about the other headline act at CES: a humanoid robot from Boston Dynamics that will work inside Hyundai and Google facilities. The company announced that Atlas will be deployed to Hyundai and Google sites, with reporting by Brandon Vigliarolo noting that Atlas is moving from viral videos into real industrial use and that the story drew 42 comments, details that appear in coverage of how Atlas will be deployed to Hyundai and Google facilities this year. For a CEO who has spent years promising that Tesla’s Optimus will transform factory work, the lack of public reaction to a rival’s production-ready humanoid is striking.
Video snippets from CES show Boston Dynamics introducing Atlas as a premium humanoid robot, with the launch explicitly framed as a moment that pulls attention away from Tesla’s own Optimus humanoid efforts. One short clip highlights how Tesla’s Optimus, CES, Boston Dynamics and Atlas are now part of the same competitive conversation, underscoring that Tesla, Optimus, CES, Boston Dynamics, Atlas are colliding in the public imagination. Musk’s silence in that context looks less like indifference and more like a strategic decision not to amplify a rival’s big reveal just as Tesla is trying to convince investors that robots, not cars, are its long-term growth engine.
Electrek’s snapshot of Musk’s split focus at CES
The contrast between Musk’s open commentary on Nvidia and his quiet stance on Hyundai’s robot was captured neatly in reporting from CES in Las Vegas. One account described how the show floor was dominated by next-generation autonomous driving systems and the humanoid robot unveiled by Hyundai and Boston Dynamics, while noting that Musk publicly wished Nvidia luck on self-driving but stayed silent on the robot competition. That piece, written by Fred Lambert, highlighted that the story drew 114 Comments and that CES in Las Vegas has become the stage where car chips and factory robots now share equal billing, details that are laid out in coverage by Fred Lambert. The sheer volume of reaction shows how closely investors and enthusiasts are watching Musk’s every move in both domains.
Another look at the same moment emphasized that Elon Musk wishes NVIDIA luck on self-driving while remaining strangely quiet about the humanoid robot being pushed by Hyundai and Boston Dynamics. That framing underscored how Jan, Elon Musk, NVIDIA and Hyundai are now intertwined in a broader narrative about who will own the brains of future cars and the bodies of future factory workers, a narrative captured in coverage that notes how Elon Musk wishes NVIDIA luck on self-driving while staying quiet on Hyundai’s humanoid robot. I see that split as a tell: Musk is happy to spar in public where he feels Tesla’s lead is secure, and more cautious where a rival can claim a visible first-mover advantage.
Investors weigh Tesla’s moat against Nvidia’s Alpamayo
Markets have been parsing Musk’s words for clues about how seriously to take Nvidia’s automotive ambitions. One report noted that Tesla Stock Slips Premarket as Elon Musk Says He is “Not Losing Any Sleep” Over Nvidia’s Alpamayo AI, highlighting the tension between his verbal confidence and investor jitters. That coverage pointed out that Alpamayo AI is designed to handle complex driving scenarios using reasoning-based AI models, and that the headline “Tesla Stock Slips Premarket, Elon Musk Says He, Not Losing Any Sleep, Over Nvidia, Alpamayo AI, Musk” captured the split-screen between Musk’s bravado and the market’s caution, as reflected in analysis of how Tesla Stock Slips Premarket. Investors appear to be hedging their bets, accepting Musk’s technical arguments while still pricing in the risk that Nvidia could accelerate lagging competitors.
Other reports have drilled into Musk’s timeline claims, noting that he has suggested it could take Nvidia five to six years, or longer, to match Tesla’s full-stack autonomy, even with its hardware advantages. One account summarized his view that the Nvidia Alpamayo Competition is real but distant, quoting him as saying that even with Nvidia’s help it would take automakers up to six years, or longer, to reach Tesla’s current level, a point captured in coverage that references Elon Musk, Nvidia, Alpamayo, Competition. At the same time, another report framed his remarks under the line that Tesla CEO Musk brushes off Nvidia self-driving competition as five or six years away, while noting that Tesla CEO Musk and Nvidia are now locked in a contest that extends beyond cars into robotaxis and robots, a dynamic described in coverage of how Tesla CEO Musk brushes off Nvidia self-driving competition. For now, Musk is betting that time and data remain on his side, even as rivals like Hyundai and Boston Dynamics quietly turn their own robots and AI stacks into working products.
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