Elon Musk is looking to supercomputers to use artificial intelligence (AI) to power his corporate empire across numerous industries. The billionaire tech investor intends to invest $500 million to establish a supercomputer in New York in addition to constructing a second supercomputer cluster named Cortex at the US headquarters of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla.
Furthermore, in June, Musk’s business xAI said that Colossus, a supercomputer located in Tennessee, US, will train Grok, its AI model. Part of Colossus’s training will already be done online. However, what effect would Musk’s large supercomputer spending have on Tesla, xAI, and his other businesses?
Tesla is bidding for a supercomputer.
Owners of Tesla vehicles can choose between two suites of driver assistance features: the more sophisticated Full Self-Driving, or FSD system, which costs $99 per month and includes features like automatic lane changes, automatic parking, and automatic stopping for stop signs and traffic lights. Autopilot includes automatic steering, acceleration, and braking.
Notably, Tesla emphasizes that using “Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” should only be done when a driver is completely focused, has both hands on the wheel, and is ready to take over at any time. However, according to a CNBC story, the massive EV manufacturer intends to revamp its Autopilot and FDS capabilities using a specially designed supercomputer named Dojo, which has been operating for Tesla since last year.
The business is using the supercomputer to handle the enormous amounts of video and other data that Tesla vehicles record to train its AI models. With an anticipated five million cars—each with eight or more cameras—and an average of 10,000 million kilometers driven, the high-tech, electric vehicle can gather enormous quantities of data. According to a report, Steven Dickens, the principal technology advisor at Futurum Group, stated, “They’re streaming all of that video back to Tesla.”
Additional possible applications
The corporation may also employ Dojo to teach its Optimus humanoid robots, which will be placed on Tesla manufacturing floors starting in the upcoming year. According to reports, it intends to invest $10 billion in AI by 2024.
Developing completely autonomous self-driving vehicles is essential for Tesla to preserve its $63 trillion valuation, even if the carmaker is up against fierce competition from Chinese rivals Didi and Baidu as well as rivals like Alphabet-owned Waymo, GM’s Cruise, and Amazon’s Zoox.