Why Tesla's chief of Optimus humanoid robot program has quit
07 Jun 2025

Milan Kovac, the chief of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot program, has announced his departure from the company.

In a post on X, Kovac said he had to make "the most difficult decision" of his life to leave. He added that he was "far away from home for too long, and will need to spend more time with family abroad."

Despite his exit, Kovac stressed that his support for Elon Musk and Tesla remains "ironclad."

Kovac's history with Tesla
Career trajectory

Kovac had been with Tesla for nearly a decade, mostly as a senior engineer on the Autopilot team.

He was appointed to co-lead the development of Optimus in 2022 and became the vice president overseeing the program in September 2023.

Ashok Elluswamy, VP of Tesla's AI software division, will now take over the Optimus project.

Thousands of Optimus robots by 2025-end
Production goals

Musk has said that the company will have "thousands" of the Optimus robots running in its plants by the end of this year.

He also said Tesla expects to scale up its production faster than any product in history, aiming for millions of units every year as soon as possible.