{"title":"Figure vs Tesla: General-purpose compared","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/compare/figure-vs-tesla","comparison":"Tesla ranks 1 on the Humanoids 100 with a score of 92; Figure ranks 5 with 88. Figure is ahead on production and commercials. Tesla is ahead on progress, positioning and leverage. Level on deployment, technology and firepower. Figure is based in San Jose, United States, Tesla in Austin, United States. Figure: Private, founded 2022. Tesla: Public. Figure is named in 475 signals and Tesla in 750.","companies":[{"name":"Figure","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/companies/figure","city":"San Jose","country":"United States","stage":"Private","founded":2022,"last_round":null,"positioning":"Figure is a US humanoid maker that delivered 350+ Figure 03 units from its BotQ line by April 2026 (throughput of one robot an hour, a stated path to 100,000 a year) and ran Figure 02 at BMW Spartanburg for ~11 months (90,000+ parts at >99% placement accuracy, described as the first independently verifiable large-scale automotive humanoid deployment). It raised $1B+ Series C in September 2025 at a $39B post-money (a 15x step-up in 19 months; NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Intel, LG among participants), launched Figure 03 in October 2025, and exited its OpenAI collaboration for in-house Helix models. The negative signal: BMW chose Hexagon Robotics' wheeled AEON for its first European humanoid pilot at Leipzig (February 2026), so Figure went from BMW's singular humanoid partner to one supplier among several, and secondary shares traded below the $39B round price by August 2026. It is effectively pre-revenue at scale against that valuation.","assessed_in":{"domain":"Humanoids","list":"Humanoids 100","rank":5,"score":88,"tier":"member","scores":{"leverage":6,"position":8,"progress":9,"firepower":10,"commercial":6,"deployment":10,"production":8,"technology":10},"why":"Figure develops and manufactures general-purpose humanoid robots, including Figure 03, for industrial, logistics, and home applications.","segment":"General-purpose","layer":"Systems"},"signals_total":475,"facts_total":457},{"name":"Tesla","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/companies/tesla","city":"Austin","country":"United States","stage":"Public","founded":null,"last_round":null,"positioning":"Tesla makes the Optimus humanoid, a household-to-factory ambition backed by massive capital. It is an essential name in the category (detailed research pending).","assessed_in":{"domain":"Humanoids","list":"Humanoids 100","rank":1,"score":92,"tier":"member","scores":{"gate_ne":["firepower"],"leverage":8,"position":10,"progress":10,"firepower":10,"commercial":5,"deployment":10,"production":6,"technology":10},"why":"Tesla is developing Optimus as a general-purpose humanoid robot, with factory assembly capabilities and planned large-scale deployment.","segment":"General-purpose","layer":"Systems"},"signals_total":750,"facts_total":195}],"note":"Assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence; facts and signals carry their sources."}