Connect with us
tesla-dojo-chip tesla-dojo-chip

News

Tesla’s in-house Dojo chip teased by legendary engineer ahead of AI Day

@DennisHongRobot | Twitter

Published

on

Ahead of Tesla’s AI Day scheduled for August 19th, legendary mechanical engineer Dennis Hong has teased a picture of what could be Tesla’s Dojo Chip. While Dojo is a Supercomputer that Tesla Head of Autonomy Andrej Karpathy released photographs of recently, Dojo uses an in-house chip, according to Elon Musk, along with a computer architecture optimized for Neural Net Training.

Hong, who has been a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Samueli School of Engineering for several years, has an interest in robotic platforms, autonomous vehicles, and machine design. Interestingly, in 2011, Hong presented a TED Talk about the possibilities of making a car for blind people. During the presentation, Hong told attendees about the DARPA Urban Challenge, where he and his team of engineers developed a fully autonomous car that would automatically reach its destination without intervention. In 2007, when the Urban Challenge was completed, Hong and Co. placed third in the competition, taking home a cool $500,000 prize to continue developing self-driving techniques, among other things.

Hong dished out some added anticipation to Tesla’s AI Day event by sending out a picture of what is likely the in-house chip that Musk talked about in September 2020. “Dojo uses our own chips,” Musk said. Unlike most automakers, Tesla aims to develop most of its software and hardware in-house, especially when it comes to its autonomy projects. While Hong was unwilling to confirm or deny what his professional relationship with Tesla is, his expertise could likely have contributed to the development of Dojo and the autonomous driving project that the company has worked on for years.

Advertisement

Tesla has been developing its own chips since 2016, led by Jim Keller. Ultimately, Tesla wanted to design chips in-house so it knew all of the components and could likely sell the chip to other manufacturers later on. In 2019 at Autonomy Day, it unveiled Hardware 3.0, a chip that Elon Musk said was “objectively the best chip in the world.” Earlier this year, it was rumored that Tesla was working with Samsung to develop a new 5nm semiconductor chip that would assist with autonomous driving software.

Dojo is undoubtedly being developed in-house, but that does not mean Tesla will not attempt to gain the expertise and experience of some of the world’s most intelligent and accomplished engineers. With at least 14 years of experience in the field of self-driving cars, Hong may be the perfect candidate to help Tesla perfect and unveil the future of autonomous driving later this month. At AI Day, it is unknown what will be talked about or released as of right now, but there is obvious speculation that details regarding Tesla’s long-awaited Dojo could be released.

After announcing Dojo last year, Musk and Co. have remained relatively quiet regarding its development, but the company has continuously released updates to its Full Self-Driving Beta suite. Musk says updates will come “every 2 weeks on Friday” at midnight Pacific Standard Time.

Despite Tesla’s development and incremental improvements with nearly every software update, it is nowhere near completed. Instead, the strategy was to transition Tesla’s entire FSD strategy from what Musk called ~2.5D to 4D. Essentially, Musk wanted to transition the FSD Neural Network to a video format. Adding timestamps for more accuracy, the complexity of Dojo is likely something that will not only improve the accuracy of Tesla’s vehicles when FSD and Autopilot are operational, but it also will increase performance at a more drastic rate due to the increased rate of data capture. The massive amount of data that Dojo will comprehend requires one of the world’s strongest and most robust computer systems.

While Tesla hinted toward the release of Dojo late last year, it will not be ready until late 2021 at the earliest. It is unknown if Tesla will unveil Dojo at the event or give a simple progress update.

Advertisement

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

News

Tesla China registrations hit 20.7k in final week of June, highest in Q2

The final week of June stands as the second-highest of 2025 and the best-performing week of the quarter.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla China

Tesla China recorded 20,680 domestic insurance registrations during the week of June 23–29, marking its highest weekly total in the second quarter of 2025. 

The figure represents a 49.3% increase from the previous week and a 46.7% improvement year-over-year, suggesting growing domestic momentum for the electric vehicle maker in Q2’s final weeks.

Q2 closes with a boost despite year-on-year dip

The strong week helped lift Tesla’s performance for the quarter, though Q2 totals remain down 4.6% quarter-over-quarter and 10.9% year-over-year, according to industry watchers. Despite these declines, the last week of June stands as the second-highest of 2025 and the best-performing week of the quarter. 

As per industry watchers, Tesla China delivered 15,210 New Model Y units last week, the highest weekly tally since the vehicle’s launch. The Model 3 followed with 5,470 deliveries during the same period. Tesla’s full June and Q2 sales data for China are expected to be released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) in the coming days.

Tesla China and minor Model 3 and Model Y updates

Tesla manufactures the Model 3 and Model Y at its Shanghai facility, which provides vehicles to both domestic and international markets. In May, the automaker reported 38,588 retail sales in China, down 30.1% year-over-year but up 34.3% from April. Exports from Shanghai totaled 23,074 units in May, a 32.9% improvement from the previous year but down 22.4% month-over-month, as noted in a CNEV Post report.

Advertisement

Earlier this week, Tesla introduced minor updates to the long-range versions of the Model 3 and Model Y in China. The refreshed Model 3 saw a modest price increase, while pricing for the updated Model Y Long Range variant remained unchanged. These adjustments come as Tesla continues refining its China lineup amid shifting local demand and increased competition from domestic brands.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Tesla investors will be shocked by Jim Cramer’s latest assessment

Jim Cramer is now speaking positively about Tesla, especially in terms of its Robotaxi performance and its perception as a company.

Published

on

Credit: CNBC Television/YouTube

Tesla investors will be shocked by analyst Jim Cramer’s latest assessment of the company.

When it comes to Tesla analysts, many of them are consistent. The bulls usually stay the bulls, and the bears usually stay the bears. The notable analysts on each side are Dan Ives and Adam Jonas for the bulls, and Gordon Johnson for the bears.

Jim Cramer is one analyst who does not necessarily fit this mold. Cramer, who hosts CNBC’s Mad Money, has switched his opinion on Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) many times.

He has been bullish, like he was when he said the stock was a “sleeping giant” two years ago, and he has been bearish, like he was when he said there was “nothing magnificent” about the company just a few months ago.

Now, he is back to being a bull.

Cramer’s comments were related to two key points: how NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang describes Tesla after working closely with the Company through their transactions, and how it is not a car company, as well as the recent launch of the Robotaxi fleet.

Jensen Huang’s Tesla Narrative

Cramer says that the narrative on quarterly and annual deliveries is overblown, and those who continue to worry about Tesla’s performance on that metric are misled.

“It’s not a car company,” he said.

He went on to say that people like Huang speak highly of Tesla, and that should be enough to deter any true skepticism:

“I believe what Musk says cause Musk is working with Jensen and Jensen’s telling me what’s happening on the other side is pretty amazing.”

Tesla self-driving development gets huge compliment from NVIDIA CEO

Robotaxi Launch

Many media outlets are being extremely negative regarding the early rollout of Tesla’s Robotaxi platform in Austin, Texas.

There have been a handful of small issues, but nothing significant. Cramer says that humans make mistakes in vehicles too, yet, when Tesla’s test phase of the Robotaxi does it, it’s front page news and needs to be magnified.

He said:

“Look, I mean, drivers make mistakes all the time. Why should we hold Tesla to a standard where there can be no mistakes?”

It’s refreshing to hear Cramer speak logically about the Robotaxi fleet, as Tesla has taken every measure to ensure there are no mishaps. There are safety monitors in the passenger seat, and the area of travel is limited, confined to a small number of people.

Tesla is still improving and hopes to remove teleoperators and safety monitors slowly, as CEO Elon Musk said more freedom could be granted within one or two months.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla launches ultra-fast V4 Superchargers in China for the first time

Tesla has V4 Superchargers rolling out in China for the first time.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla already has nearly 12,000 Supercharger piles across mainland China. However, the company just initiated the rollout of the ultra-fast V4 Superchargers in China for the first time, bringing its quick-charging piles to the country for the first time since their launch last year.

The first batch of V4 Superchargers is now officially up and running in China, the company announced in a post on Chinese social media outlet Weibo today.

Tesla China teases arrival of V4 Superchargers in 2025

The company said in the post:

“The first batch of Tesla V4 Superchargers are online. Covering more service areas, high-speed charging is more convenient, and six-layer powerful protection such as rain and waterproof makes charging very safe. Simultaneously open to non-Tesla vehicles, and other brands of vehicles can also be charged. There are more than 70,000 Tesla Superchargers worldwide. The charging network layout covers 100% of the provincial capitals and municipalities in mainland China. More V4 Superchargers will be put into use across the country. Optimize the charging experience and improve energy replenishment efficiency. Tesla will accompany you to the mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas with pure electricity!”

The first V4 Superchargers Tesla installed in China are available in four cities across the country: Shanghai, Zhejiang, Gansu, and Chongqing.

Credit: Tesla China

Tesla has over 70,000 Superchargers worldwide. It is the most expansive and robust EV charging network in the world. It’s the main reason why so many companies have chosen to adopt Tesla’s charging connector in North America and Europe.

In China, some EVs can use Tesla Superchargers as well.

The V4 Supercharger is capable of charging vehicles at speeds of up to 325kW for vehicles in North America. This equates to over 1,000 miles per hour of charging.

Continue Reading

Trending