Ashok Elluswamy: The Indian-Origin Techie Behind Tesla's Autopilot Success

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has praised Ashok Elluswamy, an Indian-origin engineer, for his pivotal role in developing Tesla's Autopilot technology. On Sunday, Musk highlighted Mr Elluswamy's contributions to the project in a social media post. 

Ashok Elluswamy, who was the first engineer hired for Tesla's Autopilot team, shared his journey on X.

Mr Musk reshared his post, crediting him and the AI/Autopilot team for their groundbreaking work. "Without him and our awesome team, we would just be another car company looking for an autonomous supplier that doesn't exist," Musk said.

Who is Ashok Elluswamy?

1. Ashok Elluswamy is a robotics engineer. He has vast experience in computer vision and perception, as well as planning and control, according to his LinkedIn

2. Currently living in San Francisco, he was the first engineer to be hired for Tesla's Autopilot team.

3. Mr Elluswamy has been with Tesla for 10 years, starting in June 2014. After 2.5 years, he advanced to a senior software engineer position. In May 2019, he was promoted to Director of Tesla Autopilot Software, a role he holds to this day.

4. Described by one of his professors as one of the “top students”, Mr Elluswamy holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication from the College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai. He later earned a Master of Science in Robotic Systems Development from Carnegie Mellon University.

5. Prior to joining Tesla, Mr Elluswamy worked as a Software Engineer at WABCO Vehicle Control Systems for over two years and later as a research intern at the Volkswagen Electronic Research Lab.