source: techcrunch ai: techcrunch mobility: the ai skills arms race is coming for automotive
level: business
general motors laid off more than 10% of its it department, about 600 salaried employees, in a deliberate skills swap. the company is hiring people with ai-focused backgrounds, including ai-native development, data engineering, cloud-based engineering, and prompt engineering. gm wants builders who can design systems and train models, not just use ai as a productivity tool. this shift is part of a broader trend in the automotive sector, where ford, gm, and stellantis have cut over 20,000 u.s. salaried jobs from recent peaks, often tied to technological changes like ai.
samsara offers an example of ai generating revenue. the company used data from cameras installed in millions of trucks to train a model that detects potholes and tracks their deterioration. it is now selling this product to cities, with chicago among its first contracts. other ai-driven transportation developments include arkeus raising $18 million for autonomous drone perception software, aseon labs emerging from stealth with a depot-in-a-box for autonomous fleets, and quantum systems seeking around €600 million for its drone technology.
rivian's spinoff mind robotics raised another $400 million shortly after a $500 million round, highlighting founder rj scaringe's fundraising ability. investors have poured $12.3 billion into his startups, not counting rivian's ipo or strategic deals with volkswagen and uber. insiders credit scaringe's skill at giving undivided attention to everyone he meets. meanwhile, tesla robotaxis have crashed at least twice under remote operation, waymo issued a software update to avoid flooded roads, and uber is expanding engineering campuses in india.
why it matters: the shift to ai-focused hiring in automotive signals a growing demand for data science and machine learning skills, while new ai applications like pothole detection show practical uses of large-scale data analysis.
source: techcrunch ai: techcrunch mobility: the ai skills arms race is coming for automotive