Photo: George Hotz on his verified Instagram account
Remember George Hotz, the person who made a name for himself when he carrier-unlocked the iPhone? Hotz founded a company that had the goal of making a better driver assistance system than Tesla's Autopilot. After several years with Comma AI, Hotz decided to leave the company that he founded.
It is important to note that Hotz did not leave the company that he founded because of a buyout offer or a funding issue – although the latter was becoming something to keep an eye on in the long run.
Instead, as George Hotz claims, he is leaving the company he founded because it is "no longer a racecar, but a boat, and steering a boat requires too much damn planning and patience." That was George's favorite Rick and Morty quote, and it refers to the fact that he wants to do something different with a company that operates with a smaller workforce.
Before stepping out the door, George Hotz did have nice things to say about the company, as well as his colleagues. As he told The Verge, "If Comma succeeds, it really never was me, it's the people there who can drive boats. As I am with the world, I am a cheerleader and a court jester."
Back in 2015, Hotz demonstrated a functional prototype of a self-driving vehicle based on a 2016 Acura ILX, which was demonstrated without approval from the DMV on the I-280. The folks over at the NHTSA did not appreciate the initiative either, so Hotz decided to start a company to focus on driver assistance technology. His autonomous driving code, called "openpilot," was published online for free.
The next step for George Hotz is a company that is called The Tiny Corporation, as he announced in a blog post on GitHub. While we appreciate the sense of humor of whoever named it, you should know that it will work with fewer than three people and that it will be three times faster than PyTorch, according to the 32-year-old hacker.
Hotz believes that the future of the field of deep learning is to stray from the traditional platforms, which are well-treaded, but alternative solutions have a ten-fold increase in performance available if they are approached correctly. Hotz's new company might tackle that issue, while his former will continue to focus on its existing mission.
On top of Elon Musk, Hotz has previously upset the people at Cruise and Waymo, as he called robo-taxi startups "a scam," while claiming that they are not quick enough in development, and too inconvenient to have an impact on our transportation habits.
Instead, as George Hotz claims, he is leaving the company he founded because it is "no longer a racecar, but a boat, and steering a boat requires too much damn planning and patience." That was George's favorite Rick and Morty quote, and it refers to the fact that he wants to do something different with a company that operates with a smaller workforce.
Before stepping out the door, George Hotz did have nice things to say about the company, as well as his colleagues. As he told The Verge, "If Comma succeeds, it really never was me, it's the people there who can drive boats. As I am with the world, I am a cheerleader and a court jester."
Back in 2015, Hotz demonstrated a functional prototype of a self-driving vehicle based on a 2016 Acura ILX, which was demonstrated without approval from the DMV on the I-280. The folks over at the NHTSA did not appreciate the initiative either, so Hotz decided to start a company to focus on driver assistance technology. His autonomous driving code, called "openpilot," was published online for free.
The next step for George Hotz is a company that is called The Tiny Corporation, as he announced in a blog post on GitHub. While we appreciate the sense of humor of whoever named it, you should know that it will work with fewer than three people and that it will be three times faster than PyTorch, according to the 32-year-old hacker.
Hotz believes that the future of the field of deep learning is to stray from the traditional platforms, which are well-treaded, but alternative solutions have a ten-fold increase in performance available if they are approached correctly. Hotz's new company might tackle that issue, while his former will continue to focus on its existing mission.
On top of Elon Musk, Hotz has previously upset the people at Cruise and Waymo, as he called robo-taxi startups "a scam," while claiming that they are not quick enough in development, and too inconvenient to have an impact on our transportation habits.
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