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Meet Ashok Elluswamy, The AI Architect Now Leading Tesla's Optimus Program
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- Humanoids daily
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The AI Architect Taking the Helm of Optimus
In the wake of the sudden departure of Milan Kovac from Tesla's Optimus program, the humanoid robotics project is reportedly being placed under the leadership of one of the company's most pivotal AI figures: Ashok Elluswamy. As Tesla's Vice President of AI Software, Elluswamy has been the architect behind the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) programs. His new, expanded role underscores Tesla's core strategy: Optimus and Autopilot are not separate challenges, but two sides of the same real-world AI coin.
From First Autopilot Hire to VP of AI
Elluswamy's history at Tesla is foundational. He was, famously, the very first engineer Elon Musk hired for the Autopilot team back in 2014 after Musk put out a call on social media. With a Master's degree in Robotic Systems Development from Carnegie Mellon University and early experience at Volkswagen's Electronic Research Lab, Elluswamy was perfectly positioned to tackle autonomous driving.
Over his decade-long tenure, he has been instrumental in shaping Tesla's unique approach to autonomy. He has championed the company's "vision-only" strategy, which rejects expensive sensors like LiDAR in favor of achieving vehicle perception through cameras and sophisticated neural networks. "Neural networks + cameras work amazingly well and are really the solution to robotics," Elluswamy wrote in a 2023 post on X, adding, "Same solution for the car, for Optimus, and will be for all such artificial animals."
Neural networks + cameras work amazingly well and are really the solution to robotics. Same solution for the car, for Optimus and will be for all such artificial animals.
Optimus can now sort objects autonomously š¤ Its neural network is trained fully end-to-end: video in, controls out. Come join to help develop Optimus (& improve its yoga routine š§) ā tesla.com/AI
His deep involvement and success have earned him high praise from Elon Musk, who once stated, "Without him and our awesome team, we would just be another car company looking for an autonomy supplier that doesn't exist."
A Unified Strategy for Cars and Robots
The decision to place Optimus under Elluswamy's leadership is a clear strategic signal. It reinforces Tesla's long-held belief that the AI hardware and software developed for its vehicle fleet can be directly leveraged to accelerate the development of its humanoid robot. The goal is a unified "Tesla AI" ecosystem where advancements in one domain directly benefit the other.
This synergy is critical, as the challenges are immense. As we covered in our report on Milan Kovac's departure, the program is under intense pressure to meet Musk's aggressive goals of deploying "thousands" of robots this year. Elluswamy is now tasked with steering this effort.
The Path Forward: A Vision-Centric Future
With Elluswamy at the helm, the Optimus program's path is set to be fiercely vision-centric. His leadership ensures that the robot's development will be deeply integrated with the learnings from the millions of miles driven by Tesla's FSD Beta fleet. This provides an unparalleled data advantage but also ties the fate of Optimus to the success of Tesla's specific, and sometimes controversial, approach to solving real-world AI.
While generally more reserved than Musk, Elluswamy has shared his own ambitious timelines, predicting a "tremendous wave in robotics over the next 10 to 20 years" and suggesting that humanoid robots will be capable of complex domestic and industrial tasks by 2035.
As Tesla pushes to scale production and capability, the responsibility now falls on its original Autopilot architect to translate the intelligence that navigates a car on the highway into an AI that can enable a robot to navigate the complexities of a factory floor, and eventually, our homes.
Below is an interview held recently. In Tamil and English: