A humanoid robot developed by Tesla, known as Tesla Bot or Optimus, is shown in a frame grab from the live video of Tesla's AI Day streamed on August 20, 2022.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
By Ed Ludlow
The leader of Tesla Inc.’s Optimus program is leaving the company, according to a person familiar with the matter, injecting uncertainty into the humanoid robot effort that Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk sees as a significant part of its future business.
Milan Kovac, the head of engineering for Optimus, informed colleagues on Friday that he is departing effective immediately, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla’s Autopilot teams, will take over responsibility for Optimus, the person said.
Kovac, Elluswamy and Musk didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Kovac subsequently confirmed his departure on X, calling it “the most difficult decision” of his life and citing a desire to spend more time with family.
“My support for @elonmusk and the team is ironclad,” he said in the tweet. “I’ve got entire faith in them pushing Optimus to the next level, together with the broader Tesla AI / engineering & production teams. My departure now will not change a thing.”
Musk praised Kovac and Elluswamy in a June 2 social media post as two “key people” in the company’s artificial intelligence operations who “have been there from the beginning.”
Musk is increasingly betting Tesla’s future on robotics, along with artificial intelligence and driverless cars, as the traditional electric-vehicle business faces challenges. The automaker’s sales have cratered in key markets due to lukewarm demand and a consumer backlash over the CEO’s political activity. This week, Musk’s relationship with President Donald Trump erupted into a public feud, raising further risks for Tesla on the regulatory front.
Tesla drew attention in October when it used Optimus prototypes to tend bar and interact with guests at a flashy event in the Los Angeles area to generate investor enthusiasm for upcoming products. Bloomberg reported afterward that humans were used to remotely control some capabilities of the robots.
Musk has said Optimus, which would handle many household tasks, could be “the biggest product ever of any kind.” The robots could eventually be available to consumers for $20,000 to $30,000 each, Musk has said.
The robot’s capabilities have long been closely watched by investors, even if the product’s launch timing remains uncertain. Observers noted in 2022 when an early prototype had to be carried by people on stage.
Brett Winton, chief futurist of Ark Investment Management, a sizeable investor in Tesla, said the firm doesn’t factor Optimus directly into its five-year model for the company currently. It does monitor the robot’s developments and the rapid acceleration of the sector and its potential market impact.
“Elon Musk is not an easy person to work for, I think we can all say that with some assurance, and it’s because he drives people hard,” Winton said in an interview on Bloomberg Television on Friday after Bloomberg published the report of Kovac’s departure.
“He is not satisfied by ‘Oh, we’ll get this done six months from now. He wants it done within the next 24 hours, and that drives his team into a maniacal sense of urgency, which is what you need when you are trying to make a dent,” Winton added.
On the most recent Tesla earnings call, Musk said he expects to have thousands of Optimus robots working in Tesla’s own facilities by the end of this year. He also predicted Tesla will be able to build millions of units per year by the end of the decade.