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Tesla’s head of the Optimus humanoid robot project, Milan Kovac, has announced his resignation, saying he needs to spend more time with family abroad. The move comes at a crucial time for Tesla as it doubles down on autonomous technology and robotics as key parts of its future. Sharing the news in a post on X, Kovac writes “I’ve been far away from home for too long, and will need to spend more time with family abroad. I want to make it clear that this is the only reason, and has absolutely nothing to do with anything else.”Kovac has been with Tesla for over nine years and was promoted to vice president of the Optimus program in September 2024. His leadership was seen as vital to the development of the Optimus robot, which Tesla hopes to mass-produce this year.According to a report by Bloomberg, Ashok Elluswamy, who currently leads Tesla’s Autopilot team, will take over Kovac’s responsibilities. Kovac’s exit comes as Tesla navigates ongoing challenges, including China’s export restrictions on rare-earth magnets, which are critical for robot production.
Here’s what Milan Kovac wrote on X
Over the past 9+ years, I’ve had the immense privilege to work with some of the most brilliant minds in AI & engineering. I’ve built friendships that will last a lifetime.
This week, I’ve had to make the most difficult decision of my life and will be moving out of my position. I’ve been far away from home for too long, and will need to spend more time with family abroad. I want to make it clear that this is the only reason, and has absolutely nothing to do with anything else. My support for @elonmusk and the team is ironclad – Tesla team forever.
Joining Tesla in 2016 as an engineer in the core Autopilot team and then leading a part of it over the years under Elon was already more than I could have hoped for.
I’ll never forget the countless hardcore debugging sessions deep into the night with my awesome colleagues, through successive generations of Autopilot computers and related software stacks, which we’ve shipped to so many people around the world. The product has become so much more since then, and I honestly can’t drive much without it anymore. It will soon catch the world off-guard and will change the way people commute, at scale.
The transition to build & lead the Optimus group early 2022, when we had nothing but a couple Kuka arms arranged upside-down, was of another level for me. We had to build an entire platform: hardware & software all at once. And this amazing team did it. They did it, I didn’t.
It’s been so humbling to work with such talented people, and 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.
I want to thank my colleagues @aelluswamy and @srihari__, who’ve been of a tremendous support over the many years we’ve worked together. But also all the outstanding leaders, engineers, recruiters, technicians, operators, HR partners and everyone I’ve been blessed to share a part of my life with.
Most importantly, I want to thank @elonmusk from the bottom of my heart for his trust and teachings over the decade we’ve worked together. Elon, you’ve taught me to discern signal from noise, hardcore resilience, and many fundamental principles of engineering. I am forever grateful.
Tesla will win, I guarantee you that.
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