{"id":82819,"date":"2025-06-06T20:59:53","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T00:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=82819"},"modified":"2025-06-06T20:59:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T00:59:53","slug":"tesla-head-optimus-humanoid-robot-leaves-trillion-product","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=82819","title":{"rendered":"Tesla’s head of Optimus humanoid robot leaves the ‘$25 trillion’ product behind"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\"Tesla<\/figure>\n

Tesla\u2019s head of Optimus humanoid robot, Milan Kovac, announced that he is leaving the automaker after 9 years.<\/p>\n

It leaves just as CEO Elon Musk claimed that the humanoid robot is going to make Tesla a\u201d$25 trillion company.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Electrek<\/em> first reported on Tesla hiring Kovac back in 2016<\/a> to work on the early Autopilot program. At the time, we noted that the young engineer had an interesting background in machine learning.<\/p>\n

He quickly rose through the ranks and ended up leading Autopilot software engineering from 2019 to 2022.<\/p>\n

\tAdvertisement – scroll for more content<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2022, he started working on Tesla\u2019s Optimus humanoid robot program.<\/p>\n

Late last year, he was promoted to <\/a>Vice President in charge of the complete Optimus program<\/a>, as CEO Elon Musk began to tou<\/span>t the program as critical to Tesla\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

Musk claimed that Optimus could generate $10 trillion in revenue per year and make Tesla a $25 trillion company. These claims are largely unsubstantiated as the humanoid robot market is still in its infancy.<\/p>\n

Most market research firms currently estimate the size of the humanoid robot market to be in the low single-digit billions of dollars, with growth projections through 2032 ranging from $15 billion to $80 billion.<\/p>\n

That would represent impressive growth, but nowhere near what Musk is touting to investors.<\/p>\n

Today, Kovac announced that he is leaving Tesla for personal reasons:<\/p>\n

\n

This week, I\u2019ve had to make the most difficult decision of my life and will be moving out of my position. I\u2019ve been far away from home for too long, and will need to spend more time with family abroad. I want to make it clear that this is the only reason, and has absolutely nothing to do with anything else. My support for Elon Musk and the team is ironclad \u2013 Tesla team forever.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Kovac has been regarded as one of the top new technical executives at Tesla, which has seen a significant talent exodus of top engineers.<\/p>\n

The company has made progress with the Optimus program over the last year. Still, many have been skeptical, as Tesla has been less than forthcoming about using teleoperation in previous demonstrations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\n