Tesla AI VP Milan Kovac Resigns After 9 Years Leading FSD and Optimus Projects

Tesla’s VP of AI and Optimus Engineering Milan Kovac announced his departure from the company this week, marking another high-profile executive exit from Elon Musk’s electric vehicle and robotics empire. The Belgian engineer, who played crucial roles in developing Tesla’s FSD technology and Optimus robot projects, cited family obligations as his primary reason for leaving.

Tesla’s AI and Optimus Engineering VP Milan Kovac has been instrumental in shaping the company’s autonomous driving capabilities since joining the Autopilot team in 2016. His resignation represents a significant shift in Tesla’s leadership structure, particularly given his deep involvement in both FSD development and the nascent Optimus humanoid robot program.

Executive departures aren’t unusual at Tesla—former leaders including J.B. Straubel, Jerome Guillen, and Doug Field have all moved on without causing major disruptions to operations. However, Milan’s technical contributions span nearly a decade of Tesla’s most ambitious AI projects.

Milan joined Tesla during a pivotal moment in the company’s autonomous driving journey. When Tesla launched its second-generation Autopilot system in 2016, built on Nvidia’s Drive PX2 platform, Milan personally handled the complex migration of code and functionality from the original Autopilot 1.0 system.

His technical expertise became even more apparent during Tesla’s development of its first in-house FSD chip, known internally as HW 3.0. By 2018, Milan had earned recognition as one of Tesla’s Autopilot “Three Musketeers” alongside Andrej Karpathy, the OpenAI co-founder, and Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s first Autopilot hire from 2015.

Leading the engineering efforts that brought HW 3.0 from initial installation to mass production across Tesla’s entire vehicle lineup, Milan demonstrated the technical leadership that would define his tenure at the company. Transition required coordinating hardware integration with software optimization across multiple vehicle platforms simultaneously.

With Milan’s departure, Ashok Elluswamy will assume responsibility for both the FSD program and Optimus robot initiatives, consolidating Tesla’s AI development under his oversight.

Milan’s relationship with Elon wasn’t always smooth, as documented in Walter Isaacson’s biography of the Tesla CEO. During preparations for Tesla’s 2021 AI Day presentation, tensions reached a breaking point that nearly cost the company one of its key technical leaders.

The incident occurred during rehearsals the day before the event, when Elon expressed harsh criticism of Milan’s technical presentation slides. “So boring!” Elon reportedly complained, questioning whether the content would inspire talent to join Tesla.

Rather than accepting the resignation, Tesla executives Lars Moravy and Pete Bannon intervened to salvage both the presentation and Milan’s role at the company. After sharing drinks and restructuring the presentation, Milan successfully delivered a revised version that satisfied Musk’s requirements.

This episode illustrates the intense pressure and expectations that define Tesla’s executive environment, where technical excellence must align with Elon’s vision for public communication and talent acquisition.

In his departure announcement, Milan emphasized that family considerations drove his decision to leave Tesla. “I’ve been far away from home for too long, and will need to spend more time with family abroad,” he explained, while maintaining strong support for Elon and the Tesla team.

Milan reflected on his evolution from core Autopilot engineer to leading the Optimus robotics division, describing the transition as building “an entire platform: hardware & software all at once” from minimal initial resources.

Elon’s response acknowledged Milan’s decade-long contributions while expressing gratitude for his technical leadership.

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