© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A Tesla logo on a Model S is photographed inside of a Tesla dealership in New York, U.S., April 29, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson//File Photo
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Andrej Karpathy, senior director of artificial intelligence at Tesla (NASDAQ:) Inc who has been on a four-month sabbatical, said on Wednesday he is leaving the company, without giving reasons for his departure.
“It’s been a great pleasure to help Tesla towards its goals over the last 5 years and a difficult decision to part ways,” Karpathy tweeted, adding he does not have concrete plans for what is next.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded in a tweet: “Thanks for everything you have done for Tesla! It has been an honor working with you.”
In late March, Karpathy said he was on a four-month sabbatical to “re-sharpen my technical edge.” The sabbatical came at a critical time for the company, as Musk seeks to achieve full self-driving capability and roll out a humanoid robot prototype this year.
Musk said in a podcast interview in January that Karpathy played an important role, but added: “People will give me too much credit and they’ll give Andrej too much credit.”
Kaparthy led the computer vision team of Tesla Autopilot, which is Tesla’s advanced driver assistant technology.
