India-West News Desk PALO ALTO, CA – Ashok Elluswamy, who heads Tesla’s Autopilot division, has been appointed to lead the company’s Optimus humanoid robot program, following the exit of current lead Milan Kovac. Kovac, who had been with the Optimus project since 2022 and was promoted to Vice President last year, announced his decision to step down. Elluswamy, who has played a central role in Tesla’s AI and self-driving software development, will now oversee the robotics initiative. Elon Musk has previously highlighted Elluswamy’s contributions, noting in a June 2 post that he was the first person Musk interviewed while forming Tesla’s Autopilot team. “This tweet 9 years ago is how I started the Autopilot, now AI, team at Tesla. Ashok, who now leads the team, was the first person I interviewed. Milan, who heads Optimus, also joined early,” Musk wrote while resharing his 2015 recruitment post. Trained as a robotics engineer, Elluswamy earned his graduate degree in Robotic Systems Development from Carnegie Mellon University and holds a bachelor’s degree from the College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai. Before joining Tesla, he worked as a Software Engineer at WABCO Vehicle Control Systems and completed a research internship at Volkswagen’s Electronic Research Lab, where he contributed to autonomous driving initiatives. Share With: