Milan Kovac, who leads Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robotics program, leaves the automaker. In an article on X, Milan talks about how he joined Tesla’s core autonomous driving team engineer in 2016 and how he started leading Optimus Prime in 2022. He explained that he was leaving his place because he was “out of home for too long and needed to spend more time abroad.” Kovac stressed that this was the only reason he left, and his support for Elon Musk and Tesla teams was “Ironclad”, perhaps suggesting that his decision had nothing to do with Musk’s politics or more recently the consequences of the president.
Tesla first announced that it is using humanoid robots in 2021, although it won’t debut on its actual prototype until a year after 2022. Musk said Optimus Prime would be able to move at 5 mph and bear loads of up to 45 pounds at the time. He also said he hopes to sell for $20,000 per person when the quantity is built, and claimed that the machines could give the company a market capitalization of $25 trillion. Since then, Tesla has demonstrated Optimus’ ability to handle eggs, cook rice, fold laundry and throw garbage. The robot has no release date yet. Musk said in April that the robot’s production was affected by China’s export restrictions on rare earth magnets, so it is likely not to appear soon.
BloombergReported by Kovac’s first departure, he said he would leave the company immediately. Ashok Elliswamy, who leads the company’s autonomous driving group, is taking over his responsibilities.
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