Tesla Optimus Chief Departs Amid Leadership Turnover

Milan Kovac, Tesla's vice president of engineering and leader of the Optimus humanoid robot project, has left the company after nearly a decade, citing personal family reasons and affirming his ongoing support for Tesla and CEO Elon Musk. Kovac's departure adds uncertainty to the Optimus initiative, which is central to Musk's goal of transforming Tesla into a robotics and AI leader, with claims that the project could eventually make Tesla worth $25 trillion. Industry analysts remain skeptical of Musk's ambitious revenue projections, noting that the humanoid robot market is still nascent. Ashok Elluswamy, the current head of Tesla's Autopilot program, will take over leadership of Optimus. Musk aims to deploy thousands of Optimus robots in Tesla factories by the end of the year, though the project is still in its early stages. Kovac's exit follows several other high-profile departures from Tesla's technical leadership team.