Tesla, the renowned electric carmaker, is making a bold move into the world of supercomputing with an impressive investment of over $1 billion in its ambitious Project Dojo, as confirmed by CEO Elon Musk. The cutting-edge in-house supercomputer is designed to handle vast volumes of data, particularly video footage captured by Tesla vehicles, to pave the way for advanced autonomous driving software.
During a conference call with analysts on Wednesday, Musk revealed the significant financial commitment to Project Dojo, which caused some unease among investors and led to a postmarket decline of more than 4% in Tesla’s share price.
“We will be spending well over $1 billion on Dojo” over the next year, Bloomberg reported him as saying during a conference call with analysts.
However, Zachary Kirkhorn, Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer, quickly clarified that the investment would be allocated to both research and development and capital expenditures. This expenditure aligns with the company’s previously-stated three-year expense outlook.
Highlighting the abundance of video data at Tesla’s disposal, Musk emphasized the valuable insights derived from customers’ usage of camera-based driver assistance software, Autopilot, and the “Full Self-Driving Beta” feature. These technologies have collectively generated an astounding 300 million miles of data.
As Tesla begins production of its “Dojo training computer,” the company’s push into the supercomputing realm signals a firm commitment to advancing autonomous driving technology, setting a potential game-changer for the automotive industry.
