"Promised to Return This Month" AI Expert Leading Tesla Autopilot Team Resigns

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunjin Jeong] An artificial intelligence (AI) expert who led the Autopilot team, Tesla's autonomous driving assistance feature, decided to leave the company on the 13th (local time). Although he expressed his intention to return after completing a sabbatical period, it is interpreted that Tesla's workforce reduction influenced this decision.

According to Bloomberg News, Andrei Kapasi, Tesla AI and Autopilot leader, announced on his Twitter that day, "I feel great joy for having been able to help achieve goals at Tesla over the past five years," and stated that he would be leaving Tesla.

Leader Kapasi said, "Autopilot has completed the task of maintaining lanes on urban roads, and I expect the Autopilot team to continue to maintain even stronger momentum going forward." He added, "I do not have specific plans for what I will do next, but I will spend time reflecting on my long-term passion for technical work related to AI, open source, and education."

AI expert Kapasi joined Tesla in 2017 and has focused on Tesla's autonomous driving assistance technology, Autopilot. Bloomberg reported that Kapasi was on a sabbatical leave since March and originally planned to return to Tesla this month. CNBC reported, "Kapasi's resignation came as Tesla closed its San Mateo office in California." Recently, Tesla closed the office and laid off about 200 employees related to Autopilot.

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, posted on Twitter after the news of Kapasi leaving Tesla, saying, "Thank you for everything you did at Tesla. It was an honor to work together."

Currently, the Autopilot system is under a detailed investigation by U.S. regulatory authorities. Last month, U.S. authorities investigated whether this technology has defects, and concerns were raised that Autopilot was problematic in some autonomous vehicle-related traffic accidents that occurred in the U.S.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.