Hyundai Motor Group said on Friday it has appointed Milan Kovac, a former Tesla vice president and specialist in autonomous driving and robotics, as a group adviser and outside director of its wholly-owned unit Boston Dynamics Inc.
The appointment comes after Boston Dynamics unveiled its next-generation humanoid robot Atlas at CES 2026 last week as the group accelerates efforts to commercialize the robot, alongside its four-legged Spot and logitsics robot Strech.
Kovac, a Belgian national, joined Tesla in 2016 after working at image-sensor developer SoftKinetic.
At Tesla, he played a key role in developing the company’s Autopilot driver-assistance system and led engineering for its humanoid robot Optimus.
From 2019 to 2022, Kovac oversaw development of Tesla’s second-generation Autopilot, which used in-house chips and camera-based vision technology and became a benchmark in the global auto industry.
He was promoted to vice president in 2024 after leading factory pilot operations for Optimus.
Hyundai Motor Group made several high-profile hires this month.
On Tuesday, it appointed Park Minwoo, a former Tesla and Nvidia engineer, to lead its Advanced Vehicle Platform division and its mobility software unit 42dot.
