Top man for Autopilot at Tesla leaves

Andrej Karpathy, one of the leaders of the Autopilot division at Tesla, is leaving. Karpathy had been out of work since March. His departure follows shortly after a round of layoffs at the division that focuses on autonomous driving, although there seems to be no connection.

Karpathy has no idea what he’s going to do now, he says. Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded to his message with a tweet that it was “an honor to work with you.” It is unknown why Karpathy is leaving. He calls it ‘a difficult decision’. He worked for the car manufacturer for five years.

The announcement comes shortly after a round of layoffs at his division, says Bloomberg. Karpathy had been out of work since March due to a sabbatical, but was due to return to the company this month. That no longer happens now.

In addition to Karpathy, Ashok Elluswamy and Milan Kovac led the division, which is working on autonomous driving features at the automaker. It is unknown whether Karpathy’s departure and the layoff will affect upcoming positions Tesla worked on for Autopilot.