A look into Ashok Elluswamy – Early life, Career and Tesla experience

Tesla founder and CEO, Elon Musk took to twitter, his social media application to praise the works of Ashok Elluswamy for his major role in developing Tesla’s Autopilot Technology. 

Ashok was the first engineer hired for developing this technology by Tesla. He also took to X and said how his CEO Elon Musk influenced him and the team to the breakthrough. Elluswamy acknowledged the fact that without Musk’s guidance and support, the EV maker wouldn’t be standing where it is now.

Early Life and Education

Mr Elluswamy holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and communication from College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai. He also pursued and completed Masters of Science in Robotics Systems Development from Carnegie Mellon University. 

Career before joining Tesla

Currently settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mr Ashok used to work as a software engineer at WABCO Vehicle Control Systems for a couple of years before joining as a research intern at the Volkswagen Electronic Research laboratory. 

Career of Ashok Elluswamy in Tesla

Being a Robotics Engineer by profession, he has vast experience in computer vision and perception as well as in planning and control. He was the first to be hired for Tesla’s Autopilot team. 

Ashok Elluswamy joined in June 2014, and has been working ever since. After 2 and half years, he was promoted to senior software engineer position. In May 2019, he was promoted to the director of Tesla’s Autopilot Program and holds the position till date.