Elon Musk Challenger Who Rose To Fame For Taking On Tesla Autopilot Now Departs His Own Self-Driving Tech Company

George Hotz, who shot into the spotlight by challenging Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk in 2015 that he could make a better version of the electric vehicle maker’s Autopilot software, is stepping down from his own self-driving technology company, Comma AI.
What Happened: Hotz announced the decision on his Github page and said that he is taking time away from Comma AI — the company he started in 2015. 

“I hope that there’s people in the world who get joy from actually doing the thing and not just solving the problem. And I hope they are at Comma,” Hotz said.

See Also: Tesla Wins Court Case To Use 'Autopilot' And 'Full Self-Driving' For Marketing In Germany

Comma is well within reach to become a $100 million, plus, revenue consumer electronics company, he added.

“It’s no longer a race car, it’s a boat. And steering a boat requires too much damn planning and patience,” Hotz said. 

Hotz added that he was mulling setting up another company called Tiny Corporation.

Tiny will likely be a machine learning frame. "Under 1000 lines, under 3 people, 3x faster than PyTorch?" said Hotz.

Why It’s Important: Hotz made a name for himself in hacking circles when he was just 17 by being the first person to carrier unlock the iPhone, reported The Verge.

Later when he hacked Sony Group Corporation’s SONY PlayStation 3, he was sued by the Japanese electronics giant. The two parties subsequently reached an out-of-court settlement.

In 2015, he locked horns with Musk over his claims of making better self-driving tech than Tesla’s Autopilot. Tesla had then termed his claims “extremely unlikely.”

After founding Comma AI with the vision of developing fully-autonomous vehicles, he narrowed the focus to drive-assist technology and also published his autonomous driving code “openpilot” online for free.

Photo: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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