Elon Musk confirms shutdown of Tesla Dojo, ‘an evolutionary dead end’

Elon Musk has officially confirmed the discontinuation of Tesla's Dojo AI training supercomputer initiative, following reports from the weekend. This decision comes just weeks after Musk had expressed optimism about launching Tesla's second AI cluster, anticipated to be operational by 2026. On social media platform X, Musk explained, "Once it became clear that all paths converged to AI6, I had to shut down Dojo and make some tough personnel choices, as Dojo 2 was now an evolutionary dead end." He went on to suggest that the future of the project may persist in a modified form through the integration of numerous AI6 systems-on-a-chip. Initially, Tesla had celebrated the successful launch of its first Dojo supercomputer, which utilized a combination of Nvidia GPUs and proprietary D1 chips. Plans were underway for a second facility, dubbed "Dojo 2," which aimed to utilize a new D2 chip. However, it now appears that the development of the D2 chip has been halted alongside the broader Dojo project, as Tesla pivots its resources toward the AI5 and AI6 chips, which are currently in production by TSMC and Samsung. The AI5 chip is primarily designed to enhance Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) capabilities, while the AI6 chip is set to support both onboard inference for autonomous driving and large-scale AI training. Musk stated, "It doesn’t make sense for Tesla to divide its resources and scale two quite different AI chip designs," emphasizing a streamlined focus on developing these advanced chips for both inference and training purposes. He further elaborated that consolidating efforts on either AI5 or AI6 chips within a supercomputer cluster would significantly simplify network cabling and reduce costs. "One could call that Dojo 3, I suppose," Musk mused, indicating a possible rebranding of the initiative. Musk has been vocal about the potential of Dojo since 2019, identifying it as critical to Tesla's ambitions for full self-driving technology and the commercialization of humanoid robots. However, discussions surrounding Dojo have waned since August 2024, when Musk shifted attention to a new project named Cortex, aimed at developing a substantial AI training supercluster at Tesla's headquarters in Austin. As Tesla faces challenges with declining electric vehicle sales and a tarnished brand image due to Musk's political engagements, the company is under pressure to reassure investors about its future in autonomous driving, especially following a problematic rollout of its robotaxi service in Austin this past June.