> Tech Indian-origin engineer Ashok Elluswamy, who currently leads Tesla’s Autopilot division, has now also been appointed to head the company’s Optimus humanoid robot project following the exit of Milan Kovac, the former head of engineering for the initiative. Elluswamy, born and educated in Chennai, was the first engineer hired for Tesla's AI/Autopilot team in 2014 and has since become a key figure in the company’s AI development. This tweet 9 years ago was how I started the Autopilot, now AI, team at Tesla. Ashok, who now leads the team, was the first person I interviewed. Milan, who leads Optimus, also joined very early. Many of the key people in Tesla AI have been there from the beginning. https://t.co/yck84sSS0X — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2025 Tesla confirmed Kovac’s immediate departure, while Kovac announced on X that leaving Tesla was “the toughest decision” of his life, citing a desire to spend more time with his family. With over a decade of experience at Tesla, Elluswamy now takes on a dual leadership role, guiding both the Autopilot and Optimus teams. ALSO SEE: WhatsApp’s Meta AI to Analyze Your Photos—Here’s How It Will Work Milan Kovac, who recently stepped down as head of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot project, emphasized his strong backing for the company and its leadership team in a heartfelt post on X. “My support for Elon Musk and the team is ironclad – Tesla team forever,” he wrote. Kovac, who led the Optimus project since 2022 and became VP in 2024, expressed confidence in the team's future without him, stating, "I've got entire faith in them pushing Optimus to the next level, together with the broader Tesla AI/engineering and production teams. My departure now will not change a thing (sic)." He also extended gratitude to his colleagues, adding, "I want to thank my colleagues Ashok Elluswamy and Srihari Sampathkumar, who've been of tremendous support over the many years we've worked together. But also all the outstanding leaders, engineers, recruiters, technicians, operators, HR partners and everyone I've been blessed to share a part of my life with." Elon Musk, in a separate post on June 2, praised both Kovac and Elluswamy, calling them key players in Tesla's AI journey. Ashok’s Brilliant Article about working with Elon Musk https://t.co/N0M7Asi3p5 — XJournalK (@XJournaLK) June 2, 2025 For the unversed, Elluswamy is a Chennai-born engineer and graduate of the College of Engineering, Guindy. He is now based in San Francisco and serves as Tesla's Vice President of AI Software. He holds a Master’s degree in Robotic Systems Development from Carnegie Mellon University and has been with Tesla since 2014, steadily rising from software engineer to leading the Autopilot and now the Optimus humanoid robot project. Prior to Tesla, he worked at WABCO and interned at Volkswagen’s autonomous driving division. Elluswamy's team oversees crucial AI domains like perception, neural networks, and motion planning. In a recent interview, he praised Elon Musk's vision and work ethic, saying, “I meet with him every week… he works really hard. Easily 80–90 hours per week… I feel fortunate to work for him.” Tesla expects his leadership to strengthen the integration between Autopilot AI and Optimus, which aims to deploy thousands of humanoid robots in Tesla factories by 2025.