Elon Musk abandons Dojo supercomputer team
What's the story
Tesla has disbanded the team behind its Dojo supercomputer, a key player in its self-driving technology, according to Bloomberg. The move comes as part of a broader shift away from in-house chip development for driverless tech. Peter Bannon, the head of Dojo, is leaving the company, and other team members will be reassigned to different data center and compute projects within Tesla.
Team exodus
20 employees left to start DensityAI
The disbanding of the Dojo team comes after some 20 employees left Tesla to launch their own AI start-up, DensityAI. The company, which is gearing up to make its public debut, is developing chips, hardware, and software for data centers used in robotics and automotive applications. DensityAI was co-founded by former Dojo head Ganesh Venkataramanan along with ex-Tesla employees Bill Chang and Ben Floering.
Strategic pivot
End of Doja project amid robotaxi launch
The end of the Dojo project comes at a crucial time for Tesla, as CEO Elon Musk tries to reposition the company as an AI and robotics firm, and not just an electric vehicle (EV) maker. This comes despite a limited robotaxi launch in Austin last June that saw Model Y cars with a human in the front passenger seat and raised concerns over problematic driving behavior.
AI aspirations
Musk shifts focus from Doja to Cortex
Musk had previously touted Dojo as the backbone of Tesla's AI ambitions and its quest for full self-driving capabilities. In 2023, Morgan Stanley had predicted that Dojo could add $500 billion to Tesla's market value by opening new revenue streams from robotaxis and software services. However, since August 2024, Musk has been talking about Cortex instead of Dojo as part of Tesla's AI training supercluster being built at its Austin HQ.
Partner strategy
Tesla will rely on NVIDIA for chips
The Dojo project was a combination of a supercomputer and in-house chip-making. Tesla had unveiled its D1 chip with the official announcement of Dojo at its first AI Day in 2021. Now, sources have told Bloomberg that Tesla plans to rely more on NVIDIA and other external tech partners such as AMD for compute and Samsung for chip manufacturing.