George Hotz

Seven 'George Hotz' stories August 2015 - November 2016

George ‘geohot’ Hotz revives his aftermarket Tesla Autopilot-like product, releases new teaser

Fred Lambert Nov 30 2016 - 5:15 am PT

comma-one-teaser

Last month, George ‘geohot’ Hotz announced that he canceled the first product made by his new startup, comma.ai, an aftermarket device capable of advanced driver assist features comparable to Tesla’s Autopilot, after receiving an inquiry from NHTSA just a few weeks after unveiling it.

Hotz is now teasing the product again just a month later and he is scheduled to release more details later today. Expand
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George Hotz cancels his Tesla Autopilot-like ‘comma one’ after request from NHTSA

Fred Lambert Oct 28 2016 - 8:22 am PT

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comma-one-2

George Hotz, infamous iPhone and PlayStation hacker turned CEO of ‘comma.ai’, promised to deliver an aftermarket product capable of advanced driver assist features comparable to Tesla’s Autopilot, but for a fraction of the price and on existing vehicles.

He officially launched the device, comma one, last month for the price of $999, but now, only weeks later, he announces that the product is cancelled after he received a letter of requests from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Expand
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Tesla Autopilot vs comma.ai: Geohot challenges Elon Musk to navigate the Golden Gate Bridge

Fred Lambert Apr 6 2016 - 3:18 pm PT

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geohot driverless car

Notorious hacker George “geohot” Hotz created some buzz after his self-driving car/machine learning startup ‘comma.ai’ came out of stealth mode last year. Hotz released an email conversation he had with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in which he was offered a contract with a “multimillion-dollar bonus” for him to build a new Autopilot system for Tesla.

Hotz refused the offer and said that he could build a self-driving car system himself. He then reportedly made a bet with Musk that his system, which he installed in an Acura, will beat a Tesla Model S with Autopilot on Interstate 405 in Los Angeles. At the time (Dec 2015), the hacker said that he would release a video of the challenge “in a few months”.

We have yet to see that video, but now it looks like the rules of the challenge have changed. Expand
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Hacker Geohot secured VC funding for his self-driving car/AI startup, says they’ll ship a product by the end of 2016

Fred Lambert Mar 8 2016 - 1:27 pm PT

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comma ai

Since coming out of stealth mode last December, Notorious hacker George “geohot” Hotz’s self-driving car/machine learning startup “comma.ai” hit a few roadblocks, including a cease-and-desist letter from the California Department of Motor Vehicles for operating a “level-4” autonomous vehicle.

Though Hotz is contesting the DMV and says his prototype is currently only a “level-3” semi-autonomous car, but the cease-and-desist is still slowing him down as he now can only test the vehicle in a private parking lot. Expand
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Musk responds to claims made by Geohot/Bloomberg about the Tesla Autopilot and Mobileye

Fred Lambert Dec 17 2015 - 6:45 am PT

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Following the coverage of George Hotz’s new self-driving car project yesterday, the stock price of Tesla’s partner for the Autopilot, Mobileye, took a 7% hit during the day. Citron Research called the company “the short of 2016“.

[tweet https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/677403793651175424 align=’center’]

But early this morning, Musk took to Twitter to say that Bloomberg’s article on the project was inaccurate and he shared a blog post from Tesla explaining why. Expand
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Elon Musk offered a “multimillion-dollar bonus” for Geohot to build a “Mobileye crushing” Autopilot system for Tesla

Fred Lambert Dec 16 2015 - 11:14 am PT

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geohot driverless car

Tesla is currently using a hardware suite of sensors from Mobileye to get the input needed for its Autopilot system to control the Model S on highways and under some specific road conditions. But as it is often the case with Tesla (like for its seats), the company is looking to discontinue Mobileye’s system in favor of bringing it in-house, according to an email exchange between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and George Hotz, a software engineer mainly known for being the first person to jailbreak the iPhone. Expand
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Tesla hired Chris Evans from Google’s Project Zero to lead the company’s security team

Fred Lambert Aug 6 2015 - 11:32 pm PT

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Chris Evans was until recently the head of Google’s Project Zero, a team of hackers employed full-time by Google to find zero-day vulnerabilities on not only their own products, but any software that could affect Google’s users. Today, Evans announced that he will soon join Tesla Motors to lead its security team. Expand
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