JAKARTA Milan Kovac, head of Tesla's humanoid robot program, Optimus, officially announced his resignation from the company. The statement was made by Kovac via uploads on social media platform X on Friday local time, June 6.
Kovac has served as director of Optimistic and Autopilot Engineering since 2022, and in September 2024 he was promoted to vice president. In his upload, Kovac explained that his decision to step down was purely due to personal reasons, namely his desire to be closer to a family living abroad.
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.… pic.twitter.com/ENwYRDQkMO
— Milan Kovac (@_milankovac_) June 6, 2025
Over the past 9+ years, I've had the commitment privilege to work with some of the most brilliant thoughts in AI & engineering. I've built friends 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... pic.twitter.com/ENwYRDQkMO
I've been away from home for too long, and need to spend more time with family overseas. I want to emphasize that this is my only reason to step down," Kovac wrote.
According to a report from Bloomberg News, Kovac will soon leave its position. His duties will be taken over by Ashok Elluswamy, current leader of Tesla's autopilot team. Until this news was published, neither Tesla nor Elluswamy had made official comments on the news.
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This news comes amid Tesla's great focus on developing humanoid robots Optimistic and robotic services, two ambitious projects that Tesla CEO Elon Musk says are critical to the company's future. Musk even stated that the only thing that matters in the long term is autonomy and optimism.
Tesla previously stated that it is targeting to produce thousands of Optimistic units this year. However, the project was hampered by restrictions on rare earth magnetic exports from China, which had a direct impact on the robot's production.
Kovac's resignation marks an important shift in the leadership structure of Tesla's advanced technology team, and has attracted the attention of many parties regarding the direction of developing the company's humanoid robot going forward.
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