Milan Kovac, Head Of Tesla Optimus Program, Departs

On Friday, June 6, 2025, Milan Kovac, the pinnacle of engineering for the Optimus humanoid staff at Tesla, introduced he was leaving to spend extra time along with his household. That’s the information. Let the hypothesis start!

Many observers initially suspected a rupture between Kovac and Musk brought on by Elon’s more and more intense political machinations. However he introduced his departure on Musk’s private anti-social media channel in a put up that stated the choice to go away Tesla was “probably the most tough determination” of his life. He went on to say, “My help for @elonmusk and the staff is ironclad. I’ve obtained whole religion in them pushing Optimus to the following degree, along with the broader Tesla AI / engineering & manufacturing groups. My departure now won’t change a factor.”

Musk responded in variety with a put up of his personal wherein he stated, “Milan, thanks on your excellent contribution to Tesla over the previous decade. It was an honor working with you. Benefit from the time with household.” There is no such thing as a indication that Kovac’s departure was a hasty one, and certainly the corporate stated Ashok Elluswamy, the pinnacle of the Tesla Autopilot staff, will take over duty for Optimus, an unnamed particular person advised Bloomberg.

Tesla Bets On Optimus

Musk, who has by no means been accused of hiding his gentle underneath a bushel, proclaims that Optimus might be “the largest product ever of any variety.” That’s proper, of us. For the low, low value of solely $30,000 or so, you can have a private assistant that may fold your shirts, stroll your canine, and clear up the breakfast dishes. Some readers could keep in mind when self-driving automobiles have been the largest factor since sliced bread, or when the second technology Tesla Roadster was going to bend the legal guidelines of physics by cornering at 2Ge utilizing onboard booster rockets.

Then there was the photo voltaic roof that was going to alter the course of historical past, the electrical Semi that may out-pull any truck ever made, and the self-driving Mannequin S that would go away Los Angeles and journey to NYC with out help from any human hand. Musk now says Optimus — named after a personality in a cartoon film — is the “most essential product growth” Tesla has. “The one issues that matter in the long run are autonomy and Optimus,” Musk advised CNBC final month.

In truth, he’s betting all the firm on Optimus and autonomy and traders are lapping it up. Musk stands out as the biggest pitchman since Ron Popeil and PT Barnum, who famously noticed “There’s a sucker born each minute.”

A 12 months in the past, Musk posted a video of an Optimus robotic folding a shirt. The web went loopy. Even our personal Zachary Shahan was impressed, till Musk clarified after the actual fact, “Vital be aware: Optimus can not but do that autonomously, however actually will be capable to do that totally autonomously and in an arbitrary atmosphere (received’t require a set desk with field that has just one shirt).” As they are saying within the authorized enterprise, “If the info should not in your facet, baffle ’em with bullshit.”

All Is Not Fairly As It Appears

That’s precisely what some folks suppose Elon and Tesla are doing with Optimus. After the miracle of the folding shirt, Zachary reposted a remark from a reader that stated, “And Elon clarified that Optimus isn’t autonomous on this video. So it’s principally one other staged video, identical to the 2016 FSD video. Elon is doing the identical factor with Optimus that he did with FSD — put out staged movies to hype one thing that seemingly received’t be actual for a few years to come back.” I used to be considering exactly the identical factor myself. A few of it’s possible you’ll be as effectively.

Zach wrote, “The particular person, self-described as ‘common man who loves autonomous automobiles,’ sees FSD as being massively overhyped through staged movies for years, and sees Tesla doing the identical with Optimus. Not less than it was clarified (considerably), however the authentic tweet made it appear to be the robotic was folding garments autonomously, however even the followup tweet signifies that the robotic will be capable to do that autonomously, sometime.”

Bloomberg studies that Tesla “obtained plenty of consideration final October when it used Optimus prototypes to have a tendency bar and work together with company at a flashy occasion within the Los Angeles space to generate investor enthusiasm for upcoming merchandise.” It was solely later the corporate revealed that people have been used to remotely management some capabilities of the robots. Extra bait and swap from the thoughts of Musk.

Optimus And Autonomy

What’s fascinating is that tomorrow, June 10, Tesla is meant to start robotaxi service in Austin, Texas. The general public will see a small fleet of Tesla Mannequin Ys on the streets of town and suppose, “Hey, look. A driverless automobile! How cool is that?” However in reality, they received’t be driverless automobiles. A bunch of extremely skilled flunkies will see every little thing the automobiles’ cameras see on screens in a management room someplace and can be capable to management the automobiles remotely.

The reality is that Waymo Robotaxis truly drive themselves. There are human displays, however they can’t management the automobiles straight. All they’ll do is make options. Waymo has robotaxis, a few of them in Austin. Tesla has pretend robotaxis. It is going to be fascinating to see how the general public charges the Tesla service in comparison with Waymo’s, however irrespective of the way you slice it, Waymo is method forward of  Tesla in relation to self-driving automobiles.

Now that the pinnacle of the autonomous driving staff is taking up the Optimus program, we’re left to wonder if autonomy will probably be allowed to float and not using a rudder for some time, simply the way in which the Supercharger program did after Musk fired its chief.

The Verge studies that in March, Musk claimed the corporate might make “at the very least one legion of robots this 12 months after which most likely 10 legions subsequent 12 months,” which might imply round 5,000 robots by the tip of this 12 months, and 50,000 in 2026. However there’s a drawback. So as to obtain that aim, Tesla “should overcome China’s latest restrictions on exports of uncommon earth minerals and magnets, that are important for the robots’ development,” The Verge says.

Gee, Mister Wizard!

What can be pleasant can be if the Unimaginable Mister Musk truly introduced a few of his Buck Rogers desires to fruition and obtained them into {the marketplace} as an alternative of spinning truckloads of hype. Within the meantime, he’s saying little or no about his core enterprise — manufacturing and promoting electrical automobiles. The information right this moment is that electrical automobile gross sales in Germany in Could have been up strongly, whereas gross sales of Tesla cars have been down sharply for the fifth straight month. That’s the place traders must be centered, not on extra pie within the sky blandishments from one of many biggest hucksters of all time.

BTW, in case you have been questioning, this story was not written by an Optimus robotic, though Zachary and Scott could also be questioning at the back of their minds why CleanTechnica wants all these extremely paid writers. Sooner or later, all our tales could also be written by robots and browse by robots. What an exquisite world that will probably be. What a wonderful time to be free.