Ashok Elluswamy to lead Tesla Optimus robot project
Milan Kovac
, the head of
Tesla
's Optimus humanoid robot program, announced his plans to step down in a post on X on Friday.
Kovac became the lead of the program in 2022 when he was appointed director of Optimus and Autopilot Engineering, and he took on the role of vice president in September last year.
"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," Kovac said in his social media post.
Bloomberg News, which initially reported the development, said in its report that Kovac would leave his position immediately, and
Ashok Elluswamy
, who currently leads Tesla's autopilot teams, will take on his role.
Tesla and Elluswamy did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
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Musk has earlier said he expected Tesla to make thousands of Optimus robots this year. He said in April that China's export restrictions on rare-earth magnets had affected production of the humanoid robots.
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Tesla has shifted focus to launching the robots and its robotaxi service, with much of the company's valuation hanging on that bet.
"The only things that matter in the long term are autonomy and Optimus," Musk told CNBC in May.
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First Post
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- First Post
Indian-origin Ashok Elluswamy to head Tesla's Optimus robot project
Milan Kovac, head of Tesla's Optimus robot programme, has stepped down to spend more time with his family. His role will be taken over by Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla's Autopilot team. read more Milan Kovac, head of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot programme, announced on Friday that he is stepping down to spend more time with his family abroad. Kovac, who led the programme since 2022 and became a vice president last year, said in a post on X that his departure is purely for personal reasons. According to Bloomberg News, Kovac is leaving the role immediately. His responsibilities will be taken over by Ashok Elluswamy, who currently heads Tesla's Autopilot team. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Elon Musk had earlier said Tesla aimed to produce thousands of Optimus robots this year, but progress was affected by China's export restrictions on rare-earth magnets. An old tweet by Elon Musk about Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's head of AI, has gone viral again. On June 2, 2025, Musk reshared his 2015 post that said, 'Ramping up the Autopilot software team at Tesla to achieve generalized full autonomy. If interested, contact autopilot@ This tweet 9 years ago was how I started the Autopilot, now AI, team at Tesla. Ashok, who now leads the team, was the first person I interviewed. Milan, who leads Optimus, also joined very early. Many of the key people in Tesla AI have been there from the beginning. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2025 In the post, Elon Musk said Ashok Elluswamy was the first person he interviewed when building Tesla's Autopilot team. Musk wrote, 'This tweet 9 years ago is how I started the Autopilot, now AI, team at Tesla. Ashok, who now leads the team, was the first person I interviewed. Milan, who heads Optimus, also joined early. Many key people in Tesla AI have been there from the start.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
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