Tesla Teases Cybertruck Frame in Valentine's Day Video as It Expands Recruitment

Tesla is preparing to start Cybertruck production at Giga Texas, and we’ve seen various pieces falling into place for the past three months. Tesla installed two of IDRA’s 9,000-ton Giga Presses to produce Cybertruck’s megacastings, and later brought more presses in Austin, albeit smaller and more specialized. More importantly, Tesla installed dozens of Kuka robots on the production line. One of them was featured in Tesla’s Valentine’s Day video, carrying a chunk of metal that looks like nothing we have ever seen.

If you’re wondering what robots have to do with Valentine’s Day, so do we. But that’s not at all important compared to the metal frame that the Kuka robot named “Joey 2000” handles in the video. Supposedly, the robot is able to lift 40k lbs, so we take it it’s a heavy part. This reminds us a lot of the Godzilla robot at Giga Berlin, trained to lift Model Y’s body-in-white into the paint shop.

Imagine a real Valentine’s Day video where you have a beautiful model lifting weights, and you spend your time wondering what weights have to do with Valentine’s Day. Well, the metal frame in our video is as intriguing as the girl in others’, considering that no one has ever seen something like that in another Tesla factory. The metal frame has what appear to be front and rear megacastings attached to it.

Joey 2000 holds it upside down, so you have to imagine it that way. In this case, it’s not hard to picture the front part of a chassis frame on the right side and what appears to be a bed frame on the left. It’s not a ladder frame like regular trucks have, but Tesla promised an exoskeleton anyway. The structure in the picture would have to be united with the body sides and at least another megacasting to make it look like the Cybertruck body in white we saw last year at Giga Texas. Nevertheless, it might look different on the production vehicle because that one was merely a prototype.

Besides the teaser images and the actual Cybertruck prototypes zooming around the Austin area, there are other indications that Tesla is serious about starting production soon. The EV maker has intensified recruitment efforts for the Cybertruck program, as revealed by new job openings. Tesla is looking for 16 high-level engineers for the Drive Unit, Body in White, Stamping, and Battery Pack shops. This comes after last November, when Tesla advertised for a Manufacturing Operations Leader for Cybertruck. The position is still open on Tesla’s website if you’re interested.