Mars, self-driving robotaxis, Tesla Roadster, general artificial intelligence and, on the political front, the Doge’s cuts: what the richest man in the world said and what really happened
2025 has been a banner year for Elon Musk. Or at least for its assets, which is now worth more than some large companies and more than the economy of several countries around the world. According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires List, as of December 31st the South African tycoon is sitting on a fortune worth 726.3 billion dollars. Roughly as much as the three mega-billionaires who follow in the Forbes rankings, combined: Google co-founder Larry Page ($256.9 billion), Oracle president Larry Ellison ($245 billion) and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos ($242.2 billion).
But 2025 for Musk was also a year of great promises, which someone took the trouble to verify. Looking at the results, those who are most kind to the Tesla owner might define him as an incurable optimist. The most critical, simply, a smoke seller. Because the twelve months that have just passed have told a story of great enthusiasm and much more modest results, a script that now seems to be repeated with worrying regularity in the undertakings (many of which are real and tangible, it must be said) of the South African visionary.
«On Mars in 2025»
First promise: let’s start with the most ambitious and capable of making anyone who has the slightest inspiration for the expansion of man in the universe out there dream. Let’s talk about Marteobviously, the red dream that has fueled the imagination of SpaceX since its birth.
Already in 2011, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Musk promised to put a man on Mars “in 10 years”. In 2016, at Recode’s Code 2016 conference, the South African billionaire moved the goal further: “If things go according to plan, we should be able to launch people probably in 2024 with arrival in 2025.” 2025 is over and, no, we are not on Mars. No human being is even remotely close to the red planet. Of course, Starship’s test flights have marked important progress, but industry experts are unanimous: fundamental pieces (such as in-orbit refueling and life support systems) for such extreme journeys are still missing.
And Tesla Robotaxis?
Returning to Earth, the promise of the robotaxi Tesla it proved equally elusive. Investors were guaranteed that by the end of the year “half of Americans” would have access to this revolutionary autonomous transportation network. The reality? Service is limited to Austin, Texas for now. Indeed, not even in the entire metropolitan area. And despite bombastic announcements about “completely unmanned” rides, real safety drivers remain firmly in place, required by both authorities and internal safety protocols.
A certain share of self-driving public vehicles actually exists in the United States, and is expanding to an ever-increasing number of cities, including towards Europe (London), the Middle East and China. But by Waymo (Google) and some Chinese companies.
AI and the mirage of Agi
On the artificial intelligence front, through xAI, Musk he had painted 2025 as the year of Agi, artificial general intelligence capable of reasoning like a human being. As the months passed, however, this goal turned into another elusive target, postponed to “the next few years” with increasing vagueness. Researchers in the sector have pointed out that amassing computing power is not enough: current models continue to show embarrassing fragilities and that tendency towards “hallucinations” which undermines any claim of reliability for truly complex and “human” level work.
The new Roadster
With Tesla, Musk has created a real “hype machine” over the years and essentially from the beginning, making the company one of the most valued on the stock market in the world. But the story of the second generation Tesla Roadster has become an emblematic case of repeated delays. . The La Roadster 2G was unveiled in November 2017 with a promise of production by 2020. Musk subsequently indicated 2021 (“within 12-18 months” in a July 2020 call), then 2022, 2023, 2024 and finally 2025, without ever starting production. At the end of October 2025 Sam Altman publicly complained that he had paid a deposit in 2018 and that he couldn’t even get a refund (Musk replied that the problem was resolved within 24 hours). A few days later, on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Musk promised an “unforgettable” demo by the end of the year and alluded to “flying car” technologies without confirming details. However, at the November 2025 shareholder meeting, Tesla again postponed the launch to April 1, 2026 and production to 2027.
Doge
And finally there is the governmental chapter, perhaps the most controversial (along with the Roman salute). In his quasi-institutional role at DOGE, Musk had vowed to eliminate $2 trillion in federal waste. The result? According to several independent analyses, which have tried to dig behind the opaque work of the organization set up and then abandoned by the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, public spending has even paradoxically increased during his mandate, and many of the promised cuts have dissolved into thin air or, even worse, have triggered humanitarian crises such as that of the USAID programs.
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January 1, 2026
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