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Comma.ai’s George Hotz talks Tesla Autopilot, AI Vision and the future of self-driving cars
One of the most outspoken players in the race to autonomous cars has some strong thoughts on where the future of self-driving technology is headed. George Hotz, the CEO and founder of Comma.ai, believes heavily in a future where AI-driven computer vision powers our self-driving cars. I sat down with Hotz on the NextMobility podcast to discuss everything from Tesla’s Autopilot to Comma.ai’s suite of products that take aim at converting the regular car into a self-driving vehicle. Listen below, or download it on Apple Podcasts or on other platforms.
So how do we get there? According to Hotz, computer vision technology is already good enough to be comparable to LiDAR. The real problem is getting AI to understand the environment and make intelligent decisions. Predictive complexity and being able to reason what course of action is needed is the challenging part of self-driving vehicles, George explains.
“That’s the easy part (Computer vision), the hard part is- okay I’m trying to merge up here, how is my model going to behave.” – George Hotz
Hotz famously showed a working prototype of his self-driving technology in a Bloomberg Businessweek interview with Ashley Vance in December 2015. Since then the company’s strategy has changed along with its technology. Hotz open-sourced their self-driving software last November and called it Openpilot after the NHTSA threatened to shut down his project.
Hotz has avoided dealing with regulators by creating a Comma.ai hardware ‘ecosystem’ this year that can run the open source software. Rather than simply making hardware that allows the vehicle to drive autonomously, the hardware creates an interface to allow computers to interact with the vehicle in several ways.
Comma.ai’s new product line consists of the EON dashcam that also doubles as a navigation and music interface, the Panda OBD-II connector, and a Giraffe connector to seamless tie into a vehicle’s system. Using all three products, one can run music, navigation and even their Openpilot driving agent on the vehicle.
Comma.ai’s new EON dashcam does a heck of a lot more than record video. (Photo: Comma.ai)
In 2015, Hotz considered ‘contracting’ with Tesla to help develop their Autopilot software, but then decided to pursue the technology on his own. I asked Hotz why he thought Tesla has had trouble retaining leaders in the division and he shared his theory.
“Elon has an idea in his head that it (self-driving vehicles powered by computer vision and AI) should be easy, and he’s right- it absolutely should be easy. So every time someone doesn’t make it seem easy- he fires them. Which is actually a probably good strategy. So what’s the problem… it’s just actually implementing all the stuff, I mean implementation is hard. It’s not the theory, the theory is all there,” said Hotz on the NextMobility Podcast.
Hotz also believes that other automakers are still very behind Tesla in terms of vehicle architecture. While other companies are launching long-range electric vehicles or planning their development, they still have yet to compete with Tesla’s technological advancements.
“They (other automotive companies) are going to be like, holy crap- we are five years behind… the car manufacturers still have no idea how far they are behind. The Model S has sophisticated compute, OTA, Linux boxes, a large touchscreen, and a modern user interface. What does the Chevy bolt have?”
Who do you think will win the self-driving game?
Tesla has officially revealed its 2026 Summer Update, which comes with a variety of crazy new features, including Navigation fixes that owners have been wanting for months.
Tesla routinely releases a larger update with the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter updates, where it ships a variety of new features, bug fixes, and other additions to customer cars.
The 2026 Spring Update featured things like “Hey Grok” voice assistance, a redesigned self-driving app, Unreal Engine visual upgrades, and more.
🚨 TESLA’S SUMMER UPDATE FOR 2026 IS HERE:
Featuring:
✅ Self-Driving Stats in Mobile App
✅ Caraoke with Scoring
✅ Automatic Navigation
✅ Preferred Routes
✅ Set Arrival Energy from Mobile App
✅ Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App
✅ Rear Display Lock
✅ Other Improvements
🔌… https://t.co/C9IW3egEhH— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 21, 2026
Tesla’s Summer Release has about ten new features; we’ll show you each and detail them below:
New Grok Voice Commands
“Grok can now make phone calls, search and play music, adjust climate, open the glovebox, and answer questions about your Tesla.”
Self-Driving Stats in Mobile App
“View and share self-driving stats from the mobile app.”
Caraoke With Scoring
“Caraoke now scores your singing while in Park. High scores are saved to your Tesla profile.”
Automatic Navigation
“Automatic Navigation now adapts to your routine.
In addition to Home, Work, and upcoming calendar events, your vehicle can now suggest and route to places you visit regularly – like a school drop-off on the way to work, or the gym on the way home.”
Preferred Routes
“For a more personalized experience, navigation now prioritizes routes that you’ve taken before”
Set Arrival Energy from Mobile App
“Set your desired Arrival Energy from your phone.”
Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App
“Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: https://github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”
Rear Display Lock
“Kids can watch content on the rear screen, but only the front row can control it through the rear screen app.”
Other Improvements
- Find Superchargers by name when searching for a destination
- Add Apple Music songs to queue from search and artist page
- Set your preferred zoom level for the Self-Driving visualization
- Intro animations for new Model 3 and Y
Tesla’s reason for Starlink integration on Cybercab might surprise you, as the company’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, finally shed some light on the reason they are putting a satellite internet terminal on its ride-hailing-geared vehicle.
On Monday, Tesla officially confirmed that it would integrate Starlink V5 terminals into Cybercab vehicles, something many Tesla fans had figured the company would do, as the vehicle is primarily geared toward giving rides without any passenger intervention.
Starlink V5 directly integrated in Cybercab pic.twitter.com/FxzTtzjB6I
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 20, 2026
The ability to access the internet would allow riders to work or play in the car with their devices. It seemed like a more-than-reasonable feature to add to the Cybercab, which made its way off the production lines for the first time earlier this year.
Tesla reveals first vehicle model to receive Starlink integration
However, the move is not for the rider, as Elluswamy confirmed on Monday night. Instead, it’s actually for Tesla to be able to have a constant connection to the cars in the Robotaxi fleet so it can troubleshoot issues, contact riders, or resolve other issues.
Elluswamy said:
“It is still not required for safe operation of the vehicle. Connectivity is primarily meant for navigation, customer service and, in general, fleet management.”
It is still not required for safe operation of the vehicle. Connectivity is primarily meant for navigation, customer service and, in general, fleet management.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) July 20, 2026
Many initially assumed the option of constant connectivity would be enabled on the Cybercab for passenger entertainment or work. With the Cybercab, passengers won’t be doing anything but enjoying the ride, so it seemed more than logical that they would be hanging out with Starlink internet access as an amenity.
However, Tesla’s primary concern with Robotaxi is safety, and nailing these first unsupervised rides is a crucial step to setting a good narrative on how effective driverless transportation can be.
Being able to get in touch with passengers or a vehicle if something is wrong is a crucial part of the overall experience, and preventative measures are being taken by Tesla to ensure a smooth process, even in the worst-case.
Tesla has expanded its Robotaxi program in Florida to include two new cities: Tampa and Orlando.
This marks the second and third cities to be added to the company’s available locations for autonomous ride-hailing in the Sunshine State, joining Miami, which was the first Florida city to offer Robotaxi rides.
Tesla announced the addition of Orlando and Tampa to the Robotaxi program on Tuesday morning. The cities now join Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and the San Francisco Bay Area as locations where Tesla can operate its Robotaxi platform:
Robotaxi now in Tampa & Orlando! pic.twitter.com/fYtmXgJq3O
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) July 21, 2026
These rides are unsupervised, as AI Head Ashok Elluswamy confirmed the suite in Florida is operating without safety drivers or anyone within the cabin to assist with operation.
Orlando Tesla Robotaxi Operation
The geofence in Orlando covers a prominent irregular shaded zone on the map, roughly 4-6 miles across in key dimensions, so it likely measures somewhere between 25 and 45 square miles, which is comparable to other early Tesla launches in other cities.
It encompasses central and southern areas bounded by major highways including SR-417 and SR-528, including parts of the Orlando metro core, tourism-adjacent zones, and residential/commercial districts. This represents an initial targeted rollout in a tourist-heavy region, positioned for quick expansion via Tesla’s software updates.
Tampa Tesla Robotaxi Operation
In Tampa, the shape of the geofence is a shaded polygon covering key neighborhoods, explicitly including West Tampa, Tampa Heights, Hyde Park, and downtown Tampa proper, with boundaries along major roads and the Hillsborough River area.
This focuses on high-demand central zones and will offer tourists and citygoers rides without drivers.
Robotaxi Progress
Tesla has been operating Robotaxi since last June, when it launched in Austin. The geofences in most regions have already expanded several times since their launch last year, but the bigger complaint is vehicle availability. Tesla has been working to add more Robotaxi-enabled vehicles to its fleet.
The company still plans to utilize its Cybercab, a new vehicle that is being produced at Gigafactory Texas, for the Robotaxi suite alongside the Model Y, which has been the vehicle of choice for Tesla with early operations.
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla’s reason for Starlink integration on Cybercab might surprise you
