Who is India-origin engineer Ashok Elluswamy, praised by Elon Musk for Tesla AI?

Ashok Elluswamy praised Tesla boss Elon Musk and said that he was "critical" for the company's success in AI.

Ashok Elluswamy- the Indian-origin robotics engineer who played a pivotal role in Tesla’s “success in AI” and the Autopilot software- was praised by company's CEO Elon Musk in a post on X (formerly Twitter). Ashok Elluswamy was the first hire for Tesla’s Autopilot team in 2021.

Ashok Elluswamy was the first hire for Tesla’s Autopilot team in 2021 and he was praised by Elon Musk for his contribution.

Acknowledging his role in Tesla’s growth, Elon Musk wrote in a post, “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.”

Ashok Elluswamy also praised the Tesla boss and said that he was "critical" for the company's success in AI.

"If not for Elon's ambition, Tesla might have dwindled to become just another car company. In the future, fully autonomous cars and useful household robots will be common place and the world will think that this was how it was always supposed to be. Until then, we need Elon Musk to push the frontier, because he sees it already," he wrote.

Praising Elon Musk further, Ashok Elluswamy wrote, “It is his combination of deep technical understanding, insane perseverance and relentless hard work that have positioned Tesla to be a leader in real-world AI. Elon's technical intuition to make these important decisions way before others see it is unmatched.”

Here are top things you need to know about Ashok Elluswamy:

1. Ashok Elluswamy was hired after Elon Musk put out a tweet looking for candidates for the autopilot team.
2. He has been associated with the company for 10 years.
3. He is a robotics engineer who also has experience in computer vision and perception through planning and control, as per his LinkedIn profile.
4. Ashok Elluswamy earned his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Communication from the College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai.
5. He studied robotics systems development at the Carnegie Mellon University in US.
6. He has also worked with the WABCO Vehicle Control Systems and Volkswagen.