Hyundai Motor Group to appoint former head of Tesla’s humanoid robot program as adviser

A Hyundai electric Ioniq 5 Waymo in partnership with Waymo is showcased at the LA Auto Show in Los Angeles Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

SEOUL -- South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group said on Friday it plans to appoint Milan Kovac, the former head of Tesla’s humanoid robot program, as an adviser as it seeks to bolster its competitiveness in robotics and artificial intelligence.

The auto group also plans to nominate Kovac as an outside director of the firm’s U.S. subsidiary Boston Dynamics.

Kovac, who announced plans to leave Tesla last June, became the lead of Tesla’s Optimus humanoid program in 2022 when he was appointed director of Optimus and Autopilot Engineering.

“Hyundai Motor Group is strengthening its technology leadership and driving a paradigm shift in the industry by appointing a global expert as an advisor, leveraging the convergence of AI and robotics,” Hyundai said in a statement.

Hyundai added that Kovac will contribute to strategic discussions on mid- to long-term strategy and commercialization across the company’s portfolio of robotics platforms, including Spot, Stretch, Orbit and Atlas.

Hyundai Motor last week unveiled the production version of the Atlas humanoid robot at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and said it aims to build a factory capable of manufacturing 30,000 robot units annually by 2028.

The company expects humanoid robots to become the largest segment of the physical artificial intelligence market, which refers to AI systems embedded in hardware that collect real-world data and make autonomous decisions, spanning areas such as robotics, smart factories and autonomous driving.

Hyundai on Tuesday also appointed former Tesla and Nvidia engineer Park Min-woo as head of its advanced vehicle platform division and CEO of 42dot to strengthen competitiveness in software-defined vehicles and autonomous driving capabilities.

Shares of Hyundai Motor rose more than 34 per cent since the company unveiled the production version of its humanoid robot last week at CES, compared with a 7 per cent rise in the benchmark KOSPI.

Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, Reuters