Autopilot team changes

[Zaxxon]

It looks like Tesla poached away Chris Lattner from Apple to be the new head of Autopilot.

The Verge is also reporting that Sterling Anderson is no longer with Tesla, although Electrek suggests he is.

 

[Zaxxon]

Meant to mention this in the first post but hit the Go button too quickly: Lattner is the creator of the Swift programming language and is a rock star in the Apple world. Seems like a huge hire for Tesla.

 

[Todd Burch]

Last line in the Electrek article now says:

"Update: Tesla also confirmed that Sterling Anderson, Director of Autopilot programs, left the company."

 

[rajpatel486]

Sterling Tweeted this earlier today.

 

[diesel]

I saw that Chris was leaving Apple in earlier news but there was no mention that he was headed over to Tesla - I assumed he'd been poached by Microsoft.

He's got a great track record with LLVM and Swift so lets hope he works wonders in the AutoPilot team at Tesla!

 

[richrootes]

Sterling Tweeted this earlier today.

Tweet deleted - what did it say?

 

[chillaban]

Tweet deleted - what did it say?

Something like "You ain't seen nothing yet"

 

[oktane]

OMG could it be that the former head of Tesla AP wasn't meeting deadlines and got axed? I hope this means a chance of a functional autopilot, but suggests fears that parity to AP1 won't happen anytime soon are warranted.

 

[chillaban]

OMG could it be that the former head of Tesla AP wasn't meeting deadlines and got axed? I hope this means a chance of a functional autopilot, but suggests fears that parity to AP1 won't happen anytime soon are warranted.

I would not read too much into it. Management changes happen all the time in Silicon Valley, and they don't always have a particularly meaningful interpretation.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

Something like "You ain't seen nothing yet"

That tweet is still there.

Probably just a bad link to it.

 

[Andyw2100]

That tweet is still there.

Probably just a bad link to it.

Good link: Sterling Anderson (@sterling_a) | Twitter

 

[HumanGenome]

Hard to tell whether that was an angsty teen tweet or an inspirational message.

I am guessing the former considering he just got replaced.

 

[oktane]

Yes it also made no sense to me given the context.

 

[bonnie]

OMG could it be that the former head of Tesla AP wasn't meeting deadlines and got axed? I hope this means a chance of a functional autopilot, but suggests fears that parity to AP1 won't happen anytime soon are warranted.

Hard to tell whether that was an angsty teen tweet or an inspirational message.

I am guessing the former considering he just got replaced.

You guys are knuckleheads, and I say that in the most endearing way.

Sterling didn't get axed. He's left on good terms. Sometimes new opportunities are presented, you know you're leaving the team in good hands, objectives have been realized & it's time to attack the new challenge. I have it on *good authority* he's been working on something very exciting for a while and may be announcing soon.

Those of us lucky enough to have made his acquaintance wish him well & can't wait to see what's coming next.

 

[esk8mw]

You guys are knuckleheads, and I say that in the most endearing way.

Sterling didn't get axed. He's left on good terms. Sometimes new opportunities are presented, you know you're leaving the team in good hands, objectives have been realized & it's time to attack the new challenge. I have it on *good authority* he's been working on something very exciting for a while and may be announcing soon.

Those of us lucky enough to have made his acquaintance wish him well & can't wait to see what's coming next.

I don't need details, but is the "exciting thing" he's working on for Tesla, affiliated with Tesla or will somehow benefit Tesla?

 

[rajpatel486]

That tweet is still there.

Probably just a bad link to it.

He deleted it and then retweeted it a few minutes later.

 

[bonnie]

He deleted it and then retweeted it a few minutes later.

I think that was just a twitter-hiccup.

 

[bonnie]

I don't need details, but is the "exciting thing" he's working on for Tesla, affiliated with Tesla or will somehow benefit Tesla?

You're asking for details. Let's work on our long-term gratification today. (Sorry!)

 

[esk8mw]

You're asking for details. Let's work on our long-term gratification today. (Sorry!)

I'm honestly not - just wondering if he's still with the organization in some capacity, going to a competitor or striking out on his own. Details would be (i) how he is staying at Telsa/role, (ii) where he's going and (iii) what his new project actually is. I didn't ask for any of that since, like you, I believe in letting people announce their own exciting things.

In any event, was just a curiosity, nothing more. No need to respond to even this vague question if you can't/don't want to for any reason.

 

[bonnie]

I'm honestly not - just wondering if he's still with the organization in some capacity, going to a competitor or striking out on his own. Details would be (i) how he is staying at Telsa/role, (ii) where he's going and (iii) what his new project actually is. I didn't ask for any of that since, like you, I believe in letting people announce their own exciting things.

In any event, was just a curiosity, nothing more. No need to respond to even this vague question if you can't/don't want to for any reason.

Not trying to be difficult, was just teasing a little. It's been confirmed publicly that Sterling has left Tesla. It's all on good terms and we'll all know more soon enough.