Elon Musk robot attacks worker in Tesla factory

A Tesla engineer was ambushed by a robot at the company’s Texas factory as revelations mount up about the company’s record.

A Tesla engineer was attacked by a robot at the company’s Giga Texas factory near Austin as revelations mount up about the company’s working environment.

According to the Daily Mail, two witnesses watched in horror as their colleague was attacked by the machine designed to grab and move freshly cast aluminium car parts.

The attack occurred in 2021 and was revealed in an injury report.

The robot pinned the man who was programming software for two disabled Tesla robots nearby, before sinking its metal claws into the worker’s back and arm, leaving a “trail of blood” along the factory surface.

The incident left the victim with an “open wound” on his left hand.

According to Tesla, the engineer’s wounds required “zero” days off from work for recovery.

However eyewitness accounts paint a more harrowing story.

A Tesla Cybertruck at a Tesla store in San Jose, California, US. Picture: Getty Images

As the bleeding Tesla engineer attempted to wrestle free from the assembly robot’s grasp, another worker hit an emergency ‘stop’ button.

Once free, the engineer reportedly fell a couple of feet down a chute designed to collect scrap aluminium, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

Concerns at Texas plant

There have long been concerns about Tesla’s Giga Texas plant.

Disturbing data revealed in The Information found nearly one out of every 21 workers was injured on the job in 2022 compared to an industry median rate of one in every 30 workers.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Picture: AFP

For more severe on-the-job injuries, that ratio came out to roughly one in every 26 workers.

For comparison, the median rate at which such injuries occur at other large US auto factories amounted to one in every 38 workers.

Heat stroke death

In September 2021 a construction worker in the factory died of heat stroke while building Tesla’s 2000-acre long Giga Texas factory.

The Texas Observer investigation on Antelmo Rairez revealed Tesla failed to comprehensively report accidents.

Tesla’s first electric trucks, the Cybertruck.

In court filings, Tesla denied wrongdoing and attributed Ramirez’s death to “pre-existing medical conditions.”

Tesla further blamed Ramirez for failing to “exercise ordinary care” but a medical examiner said Ramirez had “no known medical history.”

Musk’s company began construction on the factory in the summer of 2020 after the mogul was outraged by California regulators who limited business operations due to the spread of the coronavirus.

In late 2021, Tesla officially relocated its headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin.

Musk has stated that he aims for the 10 million-square-foot facility to help produce 20 million cars annually by 2030.

Construction at the Texas facility is ongoing. By the time work is finished, Tesla aims to employ 60,000 people there.

Tesla has said it expects to spend up to $10 billion to complete construction of the plant.

Broader problems

According to Market Watch, the electric vehicle giant’s stock plummeted by 61 per cent, making it the 11th-worst performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2022.

Its market capitalisation has plunged by $1.19 trillion ($US800 billion).

CEO Elon Musk took to X to defend his company’s stock performance.

“As bank savings account interest rates, which are guaranteed, start to approach stock market returns, which are *not* guaranteed, people will increasingly move their money out of stocks into cash, thus causing stocks to drop,” Mr Musk tweeted.

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