Tesla’s head of Optimus Humanoid Robot, Milan Kovac, announced that he is leaving the car manufacturer after 9 years.
It leaves, like CEO Elon Musk, claimed that humanoid robot will make Tesla a “$ 25 Billion Billion.”
Elektrek First reported on Tesla hiring Kovac back in 2016 to work on the early autopilot program. At that time, we noticed that the young engineer had an interesting background in machine learning.
He quickly got up through the rows and ended up leading autopilot software engineering from 2019 to 2022.
In 2022 he began working on Tesla’s Optimus Humanoid Robot program.
Late last year he was promoted to Vice -President in charge of the complete Optimus program when CEO Elon Musk began to tuT the program as critical for Tesla’s future.
Musk claimed that Optimus could generate $ 10 trillion in revenue per Years and make Tesla a $ 25 Billion Billion. These claims are virtually not substantiated as the market for humanoid robot is still in his infant.
Most market survey companies currently estimate the size of the humanoid robot market to be in the low -digit billions of dollars, with growth projections through 2032 from $ 15 billion to $ 80 billion.
It would represent impressive growth, but nowhere near what Musk shows to investors.
Today, Kovac announced that he is leaving Tesla for personal reasons:
This week I have had to make the most difficult decision in my life and will move out of my position. I have been far away from home for too long and will have 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 – Tesla -Team forever.
Kovac has been considered one of the top new technical leaders in Tesla, who have seen a significant talent emergence of top engineers.
The company has made progress with the Optimus program in the last year. Still, many have been skeptical as Tesla has been less than coming to use telecommunications operation in previous demonstrations.
Kovac is not the only Optimus Engineer that recently leaves Tesla.
Figure, another company that develops humanoid robots, has recently cooked Zackary Bernholtz, a 7-year-old veteran at Tesla and most recently a staff technical program manager.
Electek Tag
This is a significant loss for Tesla. Kovac was one of Musk’s top technical guys and literally the leader of the program he claimed would bring Tesla to the next level – though I think most people have been understandably skeptical of these claims.
I have been bullish on humanoid robots and I could see Tesla be a player in the field, but it is nowhere near the possibility of Musk claiming, and there is also plenty of competition without clear evidence that Tesla has any significant lead if any.
In China, Unitree has made impressive progress and it already sells a humanoid robot.
In the United States, figure has also made a lot of progress recently:
I think it’s a smart space to invest in for the manufacture of companies like Tesla, but there will be a lot of competition.
It’s too early to say who’s coming out on top.
As for the Kovac Party, I’m sure his personal reason is correct. However, we often see people claiming it, and then they quickly show up at another company.
If he thought his product would soon become an opportunity for more trillion dollars, I doubt he would leave, but you never know. 9 years at Tesla is some hard work and it is impressive for everyone. Congratulations.
FTC: We use income that earns Auto -connected links. More.