Amazon lured away the chief developer of Tesla’s autopilot system

The dynamic development of the autopilot systems market is confirmed not only by events such as General Motors’ refusal to develop unmanned taxis, but also by personnel changes in the industry. Zheng Gao, who worked on Tesla’s Autopilot hardware for more than eight years, recently joined Zoox, an Amazon subsidiary that develops self-driving vehicles.

Image source: Zoox

Of the eight years at Tesla, Zheng Gao spent the last three years leading the development of hardware components for active driver assistance systems. His expertise included the development of mechanical and electronic components for low-current systems, including cooling systems, displays and cameras. Before joining Tesla, Zheng Gao spent ten years at Apple, where he developed various electronic devices.

Zoox dryly noted that it had hired Zheng Gao for a similar leadership position. It is difficult to say how the departure of an executive of this level will affect Tesla’s efforts to develop full autopilot for its electric vehicles. For six years in a row, the head of the company, Elon Musk, has promised to relieve car owners from having to watch the road while in the driver’s seat by next year, but this year always remains next. Zoox’s main goal is to create automated delivery systems for parent Amazon, but it already operates self-driving taxis for passenger transportation in San Francisco. Tests in California have shown that Zoox automated driving systems are rapidly improving in terms of road safety.