Ashok Elluswamy shot to limelight this week as Tesla CEO Elon Musk heaped praised on the Indian-origin engineer for his contributions to the Tesla's AI/Autopilot project. Crediting him and the AI/Autopilot team for their achievements, Musk wrote, "Without him and our awesome team, we would just be another car company looking for an autonomy supplier that doesn’t exist." 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. Btw, I never… — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2024 Who is Ashok Elluswamy? A resident of San Francisco, Ashok Elluswamy is the Director of Tesla Autopilot Software since 2019. A robotics engineer who completed his masters in Science from Carnegie Mellon University in Robotic Systems Development, he was the first engineer to join the Tesla AI/Autopilot team in 2014 and ultimately lead all AI/Autopilot software. Ashok completed his Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication from the College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai. Prior to working with Tesla he worked as a Software Engineer at WABCO Vehicle Control Systems. He also enrolled as a research intern with Volkswagen Electronic Research Lab, where he worked on a project which was a part of the autonomous driving team of Volkswagen, according to his LinkedIn profile. In a post on social media platform X which Musk reshared, Ashok detailed his journey with Tesla, including the company shipping the world's first Autopilot system in 2015 and Musk's critical role in the development of the Autopilot system. "If not for Elon's ambition, Tesla might have dwindled to become just another car company. It is his(Elon Musk) combination of deep technical understanding, insane perseverance and relentless hard work that have positioned Tesla to be a leader in real-world AI," Ashok wrote.
