Tesla Revives Dojo AI Supercomputer Project to Boost Self-Driving Tech
Global electric vehicle giant Tesla is restarting its Dojo AI supercomputer project. This move aims to significantly improve the company's self-driving and robotics technology. CEO Elon Musk made the announcement over the weekend, signaling a strategic shift in Tesla's artificial intelligence development plans.
Musk's Vision for AI Chip Dominance
Elon Musk declared that Tesla is positioned to become the world's largest manufacturer of artificial intelligence chips. He shared this ambitious goal in a post on social media platform X. Musk revealed that the AI5 chip design is nearly complete, while AI6 is in early development stages. He also confirmed plans for future AI7, AI8, and AI9 chips.
"Aiming for a 9-month design cycle," Musk wrote. "Join us to work on what I predict will be the highest volume AI chips in the world by far!"
Dojo Supercomputer Returns to Action
With the AI5 chip design progressing well, Musk announced Tesla will restart work on Dojo3. The Dojo supercomputer serves as Tesla's internal system for training AI models. It specifically enhances the company's highest-level driver-assistance product called Full Self-Driving.
This decision marks a reversal from last year's reports. At that time, Tesla appeared to be disbanding its Dojo team to concentrate on AI5 chip development and its successors. The company seemed prepared to rely more heavily on hardware from established players like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.
Rebuilding the Dojo Team
Musk now believes Tesla requires its own in-house AI training processors after all. However, this renewed focus might necessitate reconstructing the team behind their development. The CEO invited potential Dojo employees to submit examples of their previous technical work.
The exact form Dojo 3 will take remains uncertain. Musk previously described Dojo 2 as an "evolutionary dead end." He suggested that clusters of the upcoming AI6 chips would provide an alternative path for AI processor development.
Regulatory Developments and Stock Performance
Separately, U.S. regulators have granted Tesla a five-week extension to respond to allegations about Full Self-Driving vehicles breaking traffic laws. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation in October with an original January 19 deadline. According to the Associated Press, this deadline has now been extended to February 23.
Tesla's stock has shown positive movement recently. Over the past twelve months, Tesla shares have gained 2.6%. This revival of the Dojo project represents another bold step in Tesla's ongoing pursuit of artificial intelligence leadership within the automotive and technology sectors.
