Latest news with #SawyerMerritt
Time of India
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
Who is Ashok Elluswamy, the Indian-origin engineer Elon Musk credits for Tesla's AI success
Credit: X/@SawyerMerritt It's been nine years since Elon Musk first posted a call to build a team that would take Tesla's Autopilot vision forward. On June 2, 2025, Musk revisited that moment by resharing his 2015 tweet that read: 'Ramping up the Autopilot software team at Tesla to achieve generalized full autonomy. If interested, contact autopilot@ With it, he added a new note of recognition: 'This tweet 9 years ago was how I started the Autopilot, now AI, team at Tesla. Ashok, who now leads the team, was the first person I interviewed. Milan, who leads Optimus, also joined very early. Many of the key people in Tesla AI have been there from the beginning.' This isn't the first time Musk has credited Ashok Elluswamy for being instrumental in Tesla's journey toward AI and full self-driving capabilities. Earlier in 2024, he wrote: 'Thanks Ashok! Ashok was the first person to join the Tesla AI/Autopilot team and ultimately rose to lead all AI/Autopilot software. Without him and our awesome team, we would just be another car company looking for an autonomy supplier that doesn't exist. ' So, who is Ashok Elluswamy—the engineer who Musk says helped make Tesla more than just a car company? A resident of San Francisco, Ashok Elluswamy is currently the Vice President of AI at Tesla, leading the company's Autopilot software. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo He first joined Tesla in 2014, making him the very first engineer hired for the Autopilot/AI team. Since 2019, he has led the AI software division, overseeing Tesla's efforts in self-driving, neural networks, and real-time decision-making systems. Ashok holds a Master of Science degree in Robotic Systems Development from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication from the College of Engineering, Guindy, in Chennai. Prior to his time at Tesla, he worked as a Software Engineer at WABCO Vehicle Control Systems. He also completed a research internship at Volkswagen's Electronic Research Lab, contributing to their autonomous driving projects—experience that would later align with Tesla's ambitions. With over 11 years at Tesla and counting, Elluswamy remains one of the longest-serving members on the company's AI team, and, as Musk's tweets confirm, one of its most critical.
Engadget
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- Engadget
Tesla will no longer release the Cybertruck range extender
Tesla has scrapped its plans to sell a range extender for the Cybertruck, the automaker has notified customers who have previously paid a $2,000 reservation fee for the $16,000 add-on. Based on copies of the email people have been posting on social networks and forums, Tesla will be refunding their deposits in full. It didn't say why it's no longer planning to sell the accessory, but the emails come a month after the company quietly pulled the option to add it to the vehicle from its website configurator. The range extender is a battery pack that was supposed to be installed on the bed of the Cybertruck. It was Tesla's answer to releasing vehicles that had shorter ranges than it originally promised. When the company first unveiled the model, it said different versions would have different ranges, including one that has a 500-mile range. Instead, the long-range Cybertruck, which has the longest range, can only last for 350 miles on a single charge. As Electrek noted late last year, the battery pack was supposed to start shipping in early 2025, but Tesla pushed back its release to mid-2025 and also reduced its promised range from 470 miles to 445 miles. Elon Musk previously said that he expects Tesla to sell between 250,000 to 500,000 Cybertrucks a year. However, a recent recall showed that the automaker sold fewer than 50,000 units over a 15-month period. It's unclear whether the company decided to pull the plug on the range extender because it's not worth manufacturing a new product for a model that's performing far below expectations, or if it has another reason altogether. Either way, the Cybertruck's battery add-on has been cancelled and won't be seeing the light of day. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. BREAKING: Tesla has cancelled the Cybertruck Range Extender. 'We are no longer planning to sell the Range Extender for Cybertruck. As a result, we will be refunding your deposit in full' — Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 7, 2025 fff
Time of India
07-05-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Elon Musk's Tesla may have a free ‘Full Self Driving offer' for these Cybertruck owners
Tesla Cybertruck What Tesla said about the FSD offer in its mail to customers 'Your 1-Year Free FSD Trial is Here Your Cybertruck (owner's name) is eligible for a free, 1-year Full Self-Driving (Supervised) trial. As we improve our Autopilot technology, our feature sets will change. Accordingly, Autosteer will not be available for Cybertruck outside of Full Self-Driving (Supervised). We encourage you to experience our latest version of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) to immerse yourself in the power of its innovation. As a thank you for being an early Cybertruck adopter, we are offering you a free, 1-year trial of Full Self-Driving (Supervised). In order to qualify for the 1-year trial, you will need to subscribe to Full Self-Driving (Supervised) by June 6, 2025, using the link below. You can cancel your subscription at any time, and you will still receive the 1-year…' Tesla is offering select Cybertruck owners a free, one-year trial of its Supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology. The Elon Musk-led electric vehicle maker sent an email to eligible recipients on May 7, notifying them that this trial is intended as a gesture of appreciation for early adopters of the Cybertruck. Several owners reported receiving the email, a screenshot of which was also shared on the social media platform X (earlier Twitter) by a user named Sawyer Merritt. The email specifies that to activate the trial, recipients must subscribe to the Supervised FSD service by June 6, 2025. It also notes that the Cybertruck's Autosteer feature will not function unless the Supervised FSD package is active. However, Tesla has yet to share an official comment about the free FSD trial the letter sent to select Cybertruck owners, Tesla wrote:This offer comes after Tesla faced weak sales in both the US and Europe, alongside a 71% year-over-year drop in profits. The company also reportedly holds thousands of unsold Cybertrucks in US inventory, despite shifting its marketing to highlight the vehicle's toughness and utility Musk expressed confidence in Tesla's self-driving technology, predicting a future where manually driven cars are rare, and announced plans to roll out an Unsupervised FSD version soon.
New York Times
27-03-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
Tesla Finds a Chef for Its Retro-Futuristic Diner in Los Angeles
The restaurant that Tesla is building in Los Angeles — an old-fashioned drive-in retooled for the electric-car era — now has a chef, according to a post on X by an account that shares Tesla news. 'The diner will feature a '1950s retro charm, dazzling neon lights, the unmistakable scent of freshly grilled burgers & hand-spun milkshakes,'' said the post, written by Sawyer Merritt on Wednesday night. It reported that the menu will be in the hands of the chef Eric Greenspan, a Los Angeles entrepreneur who has a virtual-restaurant company and a boutique brand of American cheese. 'It will be cool,' Elon Musk, the head of Tesla, commented under the post less than an hour later, appearing to confirm the news. (Neither Tesla nor Mr. Greenspan responded to requests for comment.) The project sounded cool enough in 2018, when Mr. Musk began musing about it in a post on what was then Twitter, promising 'an old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant.' More recently, he elaborated that outdoor screens would show old movie clips lasting about half an hour, or the time it would take to recharge an electric vehicle in the parking lot. Since then, Mr. Musk has made himself a figure of intense controversy by buying Twitter and rebranding it as X, donating hundreds of millions of dollars to the campaigns of Donald J. Trump and other Republican candidates, and firing thousands of federal employees as the leader of DOGE. In the past two months, protesters around the world have picketed Tesla dealerships. Vandals have targeted Tesla vehicles and locations with guns, Molotov cocktails, cans of spray paint and other devices. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
