Tesla posts jobs for AI and Autopilot after weeks of staff cuts

Tesla Inc has posted more than a dozen Autopilot and artificial intelligence positions, its first sign of workforce growth after weeks of rolling layoffs.

The company’s career page listed 17 openings in the San Francisco area in its “Autopilot & Robotics” division, as of May 23. The roles are primarily engineerings jobs for Tesla’s driver-assistance efforts, though two are for AI research positions.

Tesla’s career site has been largely empty amid the sweeping job cuts, which are expected to impact at least 10% of the company and last through June. In recent weeks, the company listed just three openings for a manufacturing development program offered in Texas, California and Nevada.

Besides the Palo Alto, California-based roles, Tesla also posted a handful of positions in multiple states related to a service center training programme.

Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk largely ordered the job cuts as a result of a recent electric vehicle sales decline, which has affected the auto industry more broadly. As he’s cut staff, he’s also increased his focus on building a robotaxi. Musk says he now primarily views Tesla more as an AI, robotics and sustainable energy company.

Before the layoffs, Musk claimed in a series of posts on X that competitor OpenAI has been “aggressively recruiting” Tesla engineers. He said Tesla has had to increase compensation for its AI engineering team, which he claimed has “over 200 excellent engineers.”

The new Autopilot and robotics postings list wide salary estimates – between US$104,000 (RM490,620) and US$360,000 (RM1.69mil) a year, plus cash and stock awards and benefits.

Tesla already offers a product called Full Self-Driving, which actually requires users to keep their hands on the steering and pay attention to the road. Musk has long promised cars will soon be able to completely drive themselves, but has also acknowledged perfecting the technology is harder than he initially expected. – Bloomberg