Musk Praises Ashok: The Man Driving Tesla’s AI Revolution

Indian-origin citizens in the US continue to make a mark of their pivotal roles both politically and professionally. Another NRI has won appreciation from Tesla co-founder Elon Musk for his contribution in the Tesal AI/Autopilot remarkable journey. Nine years after launching the Tesla’s first Autopilot team, Elon Musk acknowledged the pivotal role of Indian-origin engineer Ashok Elluswamy’s pivotal role in Tesla’s AI journey. Ashok is now the Vice President of AI at Tesla, leading the company’s Autopilot software.

Elluswamy was Tesla’s first Autopilot hire in 2014 and has led AI software since 2019. On June 2, 2025, Musk revisited that moment resharing his 2015 tweet: “Ramping up the Autopilot software team at Tesla to achieve generalized full autonomy. If interested, contact autopilot@teslamotors.com“. With it, he added a new note of recognition: “This tweet 9 years ago was how I started the Autopilot, now AI, team at Tesla. Ashok, who now leads the team, was the first person I interviewed. Milan, who leads Optimus, also joined very early. Many of the key people in Tesla AI have been there from the beginning.”

Musk also credits Elluswamy’s leadership for transforming Tesla into more than just a car company. This isn’t the first time Musk has acknowledged Ashok Elluswamy for playing an important role in Tesla’s journey towards AI and full self-driving capabilities. Earlier in 2024, Musk wrote: “Thanks Ashok! Ashok was the first person to join the Tesla the Tesla AI/Autopilot team and ultimately rose to lead all AI/Autopilot software. Without him and our awesome team, we would just be another car company looking for an autonomy supplier that doesn’t exist.”

Ashok, a resident of San Francisco, joined Tesla in 2014. He was the first engineer hired for Autopilot/AI team. Ashok holds a Master of Science degree in Robotic Systems Development from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication from the Guindy College of Engineering, Chennai. Before joining Tesla, he worked as a software engineer at WABCO Vehicle Control Systems. He also did a research internship at Volkswagen’s Electronic Research Lab.