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As Tesla prepares to launch its robotaxi service in the coming years, the automaker appears to be building a remote operations team. According to another List of jobsTesla is hiring a software engineer to help develop a remote operations system that will allow human operators to remotely access and control the company’s upcoming robots and humanoid robots.
The Software Engineer for the Palo Alto-based role will “drive requirements, make design decisions, and perform software integration for this custom remote operating system.”
While the job posting doesn’t make it clear whether Tesla is looking to grow the existing Teleops team, or if it’s building the team and capabilities from scratch, the existence of such a team is notable for two reasons: The first is that it signals Tesla is getting serious about deploying its own robots. On public roads. The second is that it is a deviation from Tesla’s previous rhetoric about self-sufficiency.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly emphasized Tesla’s ability to achieve full autonomy through advanced neural network training and camera-based perception, without relying on human intervention.
Most people in the autonomous vehicle world consider remote operations a key building block for putting self-driving cars on public roads. Companies like Waymo, which operates commercial autonomous transportation service in several U.S. cities, already have telematics systems in place to handle some edge cases, such as construction zones, collisions, and equipment malfunctions.
Decisions made by remote operators are also a valuable source of training data for Tier 4 autonomous operations.
(the Sai L4 autonomy is defined as a system that can drive itself under certain conditions without needing a human to take over.)
Tesla isn’t exactly new to teleops. The automaker relied on remote operators controlling its Optimus robots to mix drinks and joke with guests during Tesla’s “We, Robot” event in October. But the requirements for operating robots remotely will be different.
For example, the user interface and controls of robots will likely mimic driving controls and have features such as real-time mapping and decision support in complex situations, whereas with robotics, the interface will depend on the specific task. The robot will also require more robust communications across wide areas, and operators will likely be required to record operating interventions remotely to later analyze incidents or edge situations.
Tesla unveiled its prototype of a robotaxi last month, a Cybercab designed without a steering wheel or pedals and can carry two passengers. Musk said that Tesla will begin production of the car in 2026 or 2027.
Musk also said he hopes to launch a service that allows people to praise Tesla’s self-driving cars in California and Texas sometime in 2025, a service he claims Tesla is already testing in the Bay Area with employees.
It’s not clear whether Tesla’s thriving remote operations team will be responsible for assisting purpose-built robotaxis only, or also Tesla cars owned by regular people on the roads today. Musk has claimed for years that Tesla cars with current hardware would one day be able to drive fully autonomously once the software is updated over the air, but he has since backed away from those claims.
Tesla did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for more information about the remote operations team.
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