Tesla is once again in the eye of the storm, as the departure of Milan Kovac, vice president of engineering at Tesla Optimus, has left Elon Musk’s most ambitious strategy hanging by a thread: turning the electric car company into a global leader in humanoid robots.
The executive, (who has been essential to the project since 2016), announced he is leaving the company for personal reasons right in the middle of a standoff between Musk and the Trump Administration, a situation that had already put Tesla under pressure… Is the Optimus production timeline at risk? What impact will it have on competitiveness against Chinese rivals and the stock price?
From Autopilot to Optimus
You’re probably wondering who Milan Kovac is, well, this man arrived at Tesla as a senior software engineer for Autopilot and, in less than a decade, rose to vice president of engineering for the Optimus robot. He oversaw the sensors, AI infrastructure, and integration with Tesla’s proprietary hardware.
It’s clear that his departure leaves a technical and leadership gap that other engineers will have to cover in a matter of weeks.
But… why is he leaving now?
In his statement, Kovac explains he is leaving for family reasons. However, it’s hard to ignore that this happens just as Musk and the White House are in the middle of a “beef”, although Kovac himself denies any friction between them.
What it means for Optimus
Musk keeps saying that Optimus will be “more important than the vehicle business”, but to capture that market he needs to accelerate prototypes, lower costs and scale up production before 2027, a date analysts have marked as a turning point. Without Kovac, that equation gets more complicated…
And this engineer was training the robot’s neural networks and certifying its safety, so, from what we know or can guess, those people who were expecting to receive Optimus 2.0 in 2026 might have to wait a bit longer due to this setback.
Why is Optimus so important?
Optimus is a humanoid robot that aims to lead the next technological revolution, and Musk has put all his effort into this robot which seeks to help with repetitive tasks in factories (and even at home, since none of us likes doing the dishes or ironing clothes!)
Internal replacement or star hire?
For now, it’s unknown who will fill Kovac’s role, but there are already some proposals on the table… for example Ashok Elluswamy, vice president of the software team.
Competitors on alert
Any stumble at Tesla would give other firms a chance to sign deals with logistics and e-commerce before Tesla can recover, so Musk will need to solve this little issue as soon as possible.
A future beyond cars
According to Musk, revenues from robotics could surpass those of the automotive business in the next decade. In this scenario, the departure of a leader like Kovac is a serious challenge for Tesla’s strategic goals… Almost like a bump in the road, but we know Tesla can handle this and more, right?
What’s next?
Tesla will have to prove that its vision is bigger than any individual. Even the departure of Milan Kovac represents a huge loss, the company has the technical and human resources to keep moving forward, we know that! Never, at a time when every step toward automation is being closely watched, this change does not go unnoticed.
It will be key to observe how the Optimus division reorganizes internally, who takes on technical leadership and whether the promised deadlines are maintained to see the first functional robots. In the meantime, the news has already set off alarms among investors and robotics enthusiasts…