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Jim Keller leaves the autopilot team

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I think the day Karpathy leaves is the day i lose a lot of hope for autopilot, especially given how amazing his work in computer vision and neural nets has been

Well he seems to be enjoying himself as recently as last week...

Andrej Karpathy on Twitter

But I agree with @Tiger.

Virtuoso soloists are great, but it's always the team that gets it done (in 3-6 months ;) )
 
I thought this snippet from the electrek article was intriguing:

While Keller is leaving, Tesla is reiterating its commitment to developing its own chips with the team that Keller helped put together.

A Tesla spokesperson added:

“Tesla is deeply committed to developing the most advanced silicon in the world and we plan to dramatically increase our investment in that area while building on the world-class leadership team we have in place.” Tesla’s VP of Autopilot and chip guru Jim Keller is leaving, another former Apple chip designer is tapped
 
I thought this snippet from the electrek article was intriguing:

While Keller is leaving, Tesla is reiterating its commitment to developing its own chips with the team that Keller helped put together.

A Tesla spokesperson added:

“Tesla is deeply committed to developing the most advanced silicon in the world and we plan to dramatically increase our investment in that area while building on the world-class leadership team we have in place.” Tesla’s VP of Autopilot and chip guru Jim Keller is leaving, another former Apple chip designer is tapped
I think Tesla has more than enough irons in the fire already. Attempting to become a chip design shop seems several bridges too far. They've yet to demonstrate that they can even get their software to do very limited versions of self driving using existing hardware, EAP is clearly not currently Enhanced, and actually is still behind the functionality of AP1 from 3 years and a hardware generation ago.
 
I think Tesla has more than enough irons in the fire already. Attempting to become a chip design shop seems several bridges too far. They've yet to demonstrate that they can even get their software to do very limited versions of self driving using existing hardware, EAP is clearly not currently Enhanced, and actually is still behind the functionality of AP1 from 3 years and a hardware generation ago.

I had a similar reaction when Tesla first announced they were developing Autopilot -- I didn't think they had any expertise in that area, other companies had a huge head start and developing compelling electric cars was already a huge challenge.

But they very quickly developed the best system on the market and I realized that I was wrong -- Tesla's thinking was way ahead of mine.

Tesla has been working on its AI chip for a while now and is sending signals that this will be an important area in the future for them -- in fact Elon has said that he thinks their AI hardware will be the best in the world. Elon Musk says Tesla is working on custom AI chips

Speculative but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Tesla's AI hardware is far along in development by now. I am keeping an open mind but am excited to see what Tesla comes up with.
 
With so many people leaving recently there must be some issues internally.

^^^^
Or very talented people at Tesla are targeted by head hunters for their advanced skills.

I don't think it has to do with head hunters, because clearly Elon is committed to compensating his team accordingly, see multi-million dollar offer to George Hotz. I think its "Elon demand aka Elon Time" that is causing folks to jump ship. He seems to be putting tremendous pressure on the team to "square peg, round hole" Autopilot. Meaning put out cars with hardware and challenge the team to build the software to make it FSD, instead of developing new hardware and software for FSD like everyone else.

The telltale sign of this is when the person leaving goes to "do something that he or she enjoys or has a passion for" which is what Keller is doing. If Karpathy cannot get it done I suspect he will go next to do what he loves.
 
And Sandy Munro recently confirmed that Tesla s hardware was cell phone and fighter jet quality ------way beyond what other auto mfrs are doing.

"The Model 3 has great battery design and industry-leading electronics, according to Munro, who will elaborate on his findings at an Automotive Press Association briefing today. Its packs are better in terms of power and efficiency than those built by Samsung SDI Co. or LG Chem Ltd., he said. The two companies supply the batteries for BMW AG’s i3 and General Motor Co.’s Chevrolet Bolt electric cars.

"The circuit boards in Tesla’s newest sedan also are on par in terms of complexity with those used in cell phones, high-end computers or military fighter jets, Munro said. Other carmakers should take notice.

“This is not some Mickey Mouse outfit that you can just dismiss,” he said. “Ignore Tesla’s electronics, and you’re in peril.”

Tesla Teardown Shows Tech Prowess, Production Shortcomings | Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association

I had a similar reaction when Tesla first announced they were developing Autopilot -- I didn't think they had any expertise in that area, other companies had a huge head start and developing compelling electric cars was already a huge challenge.

But they very quickly developed the best system on the market and I realized that I was wrong -- Tesla's thinking was way ahead of mine.

Tesla has been working on its AI chip for a while now and is sending signals that this will be an important area in the future for them -- in fact Elon has said that he thinks their AI hardware will be the best in the world. Elon Musk says Tesla is working on custom AI chips

Speculative but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Tesla's AI hardware is far along in development by now. I am keeping an open mind but am excited to see what Tesla comes up with.
 
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..there's always internal issues at Tesla, because, Elon

I also thought it's a bit precious to invent your own chips.. but does make a great market exclusive story.. and fast AI for driving does eat up cycles... so the more the better..
 
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I'm starting to grasp the idea that my car will never come pick me up :(. Walking to the parking lot sucks especially when I paid a lot of money hoping one day I wouldn't have to lol. Losing key employees like Tesla has been sets things way back. Just to get a new employee started and up to speed takes some time. If I was Karpathy knowing how badly Tesla needed me I would be requesting some crazy money. If he was to leave who knows what would happen to the Autopilot program.