Milan Kovac, the vice president who led the development of the humanoid robot "Optimus" while at Tesla, announced that he would leave because he had been "away from home for too long."
Milan Kovac joined Tesla in 2016 and served as an engineer in the Autopilot technical team. He then began to lead the development of the humanoid robot "Optimus" team in 2022. In announcing his resignation, Milan Kovac said that his position will be taken over by Ashok Elluswamy, the current vice president who leads the Autopilot technical team.
In addition, Milan Kovac emphasized that the main reason for his resignation was that he had been away from home for too long and wanted to spend more time with his family. He also emphasized that his support for Elon Musk and the Tesla team was unwavering, seemingly avoiding linking the reason for his resignation to the recent falling out between Elon Musk and Trump.
Tesla first announced its investment in the research and development of humanoid robots in 2021, and officially unveiled its humanoid robot "Optimus" in 2022. It is expected to be sold at a price of US$2 when mass-produced, and it is expected that this humanoid robot will bring Tesla up to US$25 trillion in output value.
However, Tesla has not yet confirmed the release date of the humanoid robot "Optimus". Prior to this, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that robot production was affected by China's rare earth magnet export restrictions, so robots could not be produced smoothly in the short term.
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
