Ashok Elluswamy, who is the Vice President of AI Software at Tesla, recently spoke about his experience working with Elon Musk. He appeared on a podcast hosted by YouTuber Gobinath and shared interesting stories about his journey and what it’s like working closely with Musk.
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Mr. Elluswamy said Elon Musk is a hardworking and smart person who also has a great sense of humor. He mentioned that Musk works around 80 to 90 hours a week and is not afraid to take risks. According to him, Musk is very hands-on with his work and can often predict future trends early on. He added, “I feel lucky to work for him.”
Tesla’s VP of AI Software Ashok Elluswamy on what it’s like to work with Elon Musk: “I meet with him every week. He is really smart in the sense that he can predict the future very early; He works really hard. Easily 80-90 hours per week. I feel fortunate to work for him. He is… https://t.co/dB5l6EbxEx pic.twitter.com/qLPB0v0hUd
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 14, 2025
He also spoke about his own background, saying that his Tamil roots and strong work ethic helped him succeed at Tesla. He believes that having similar traits to Elon Musk—like being hardworking and technically skilled—helped him grow in the company.
A short clip of the interview was shared on social media by Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt. In the video, Mr. Elluswamy talked about meeting Musk every week and being impressed by his intelligence, humor, and leadership style.
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Elon Musk has also praised Ashok Elluswamy in the past, especially for his role in building Tesla’s Autopilot system. Musk once said, “Without him and our awesome team, we would just be another car company looking for an autonomous supplier that doesn’t exist.”
Who is Ashok Elluswamy?
Ashok Elluswamy is a robotics engineer. He studied Electronics and Communication Engineering at the College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai. He later did his Master’s in Robotics System Development at Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S.
He now lives in San Francisco and has been working at Tesla since June 2014. He was the first engineer hired for Tesla’s Autopilot team. Over time, he was promoted to senior positions and now leads the Autopilot software department. Before Tesla, he worked at Volkswagen’s research lab and WABCO Vehicle Control Systems.
Ashok’s story is an inspiring example of how talent, hard work, and dedication can lead to great success—even on a global stage like Tesla.
