Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot program loses its head

Elon Musk The Optimus robotics program now wanders on shaky ground following the abrupt departure of its engineering chief.

On Friday, Milan Kovacs, one of the architects behind Musk’s bid to create humanoid assistants, resigned, effective immediately. Kovacs went to X soon aftercalling his departure “the hardest decision of my life” and citing a desire to “spend more time with my family”. A Bloomberg insider confirmed that Ashok Elluswamy, a veteran leader of Tesla’s Autopilot teams, will take over as Optimus’ new engineering lead.

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This marks a significant leadership change for Musk, who is making robotics Tesla’s next big frontier. Optimus, however, hasn’t been much raved about since its 2022 debut, when a prototype appeared known by peoplebarely functional. Soon to October. Sleek displays in Los Angeles featured Optimus units slinging drinks and charming investors. But much of the “wow” factor was toned down reports that some tasks have been performed remotely by humans.

Musk envisions Optimus robots roaming our homes, doing everything from laundry to lawn care. He hinted that each unit at scale could retail in the $20,000-$30,000 range. But with Kovac’s sudden departure, the path from concept to home appliance seems a little more uncertain.