Waymo staff researcher and technology manager Charles Ruizhongtai Qi took to Linkedin on Friday to announce that he would be joining the electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc‘S TSLA The Autopilot team will work on its comprehensive autonomous driving software. According to his LinkedIn profile, Qi has been employed at Waymo since October 2019 and has completed over 4 years at Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGLE autonomous driving technological unit.
What happened: In his LinkedIn post, Qi said he was offered a job at both Waymo and Tesla in 2019, but chose to join Waymo despite Tesla being one of his top choices along with Waymo.
“Although I initially chose Waymo, my interest in Tesla remained strong. I became the owner of a Tesla Model 3 and have kept an eye on the team ever since,” Qi wrote, adding that the choice to swap jobs was “carefully considered.”
Waymo and Tesla, despite their differences in approach, are working toward the same goal, Qi noted. Diversity of approaches, she said, is essential to the advancement of autonomous driving.
Remembering the time at Waymo: In his post, Qi praised Waymo for expanding its robotaxi services to Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. You said the idea of driverless robotaxis was just a concept and not a reality when you joined the company in late 2019.
“The talent here is unparalleled and it has been an honor to work alongside such exceptional people. You will be the part I miss the most,” she wrote.
Qi also shared some photos with his colleagues.
Other rivals: Waymo’s rival Cruisethe operations remain suspended in the United States after one of its robotaxis was involved in a pedestrian accident in early October.
Cruise parent General Motors said in January that the company would revive Cruise but did not provide a timetable.
Image via Shutterstock
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