Indian-origin Ashok Elluswamy to head Tesla's Optimus robot project

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.

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.

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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@teslamotors.com.”

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. https://t.co/yck84sSS0X

— 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.”