Tesla admitted that its robots and self-driving taxis will be remotely controlled by people

At the beginning of this week, many specialized resources drew attention to a vacancy announcement on the Tesla website, which called for engineers with experience in software development in the C++ environment to join the ranks of the company’s employees and implied full-time employment. As it turned out, the company is creating an infrastructure for remote control of its electric vehicles and robots, so it needs developers of the appropriate software.

Image Source: Tesla

Specific vacancies are open at Tesla’s California office in Palo Alto, which specializes in the development of new technologies. Judging by the text of the vacancy, Tesla is forming a team for remote control of cars and robots. Despite the active development of artificial intelligence systems, as Tesla emphasizes, the company needs remote control tools for electric vehicles and robots, since they work autonomously in difficult conditions. Tesla had to admit that the robots it demonstrated at the fall presentation of the unmanned taxi Cybercab were in most cases controlled by remote operators. Accordingly, the presence of such a possibility is not excluded for unmanned taxis. Competing Waymo and Cruise also provide appropriate mechanisms for intervention in vehicle control for critical situations.

According to the job description, remote control team members will be able to immerse themselves in the environment of each autonomous Tesla car or robot through virtual reality technology and a corresponding state-of-the-art headset. The software interface will be based on the Unreal game engine, so Tesla welcomes applicants to have relevant experience. The company emphasizes that it is going to create software tools for monitoring its autonomous taxis and robots, which would create signals about emergency situations that require the intervention of a remote operator. Applicants can expect salaries ranging from $120,000 to $318,000 per year, not including various bonuses and bonuses.