- Tesla posted a series of job openings for seasonal test drivers.
- The company is willing to pay between $18 to $48 per hour, according to one job posting.
- Tesla uses some of its test drivers to improve its self-driving features.
Tesla is hiring a slew of seasonal employees to drive its cars this summer.
The electric-car company said it's looking for people to capture "high quality data that will contribute to the improvement of our vehicles performance" for a three-month stint, according to a series of job postings on its careers website that have gone up over the past two weeks. The position includes day and nighttime shifts.
Tesla has hired for test drivers in the past. Though, the wave of new job listings could indicate the EV company is looking to rely more on internal testing rather than data from Tesla owners, which it has relied on to help test software, including its beta Full Self-Driving program, in realtime.
Tesla uses some test drivers to improve is Autopilot driver-assist feature and beta Full Self-Driving software. Test drivers for the company typically drive Teslas that have been outfitted with a series of sensors, John Bernal, a former test driver for the automaker, previously told Insider. The drivers often repeatedly enact scenarios that could confuse Tesla's Full Self-Driving software, like left-hand turns or unusual intersections, Bernal said. The data is then reviewed and labeled by data labelers at Tesla plants.
The position doesn't require a degree, but does stipulate that applicants must have "a clean driving record, safe driving habits, and a minimum of 4 years of licensed driving experiences," according to the job listing.
Tesla has roles listed in over a dozen cities, including Austin, Texas, Denver, Colorado, and Brooklyn, New York.
The role pays between $18 to $48 per hour and includes benefits, according to the LinkedIn job posting for the Brooklyn role. New York state law requires companies post salary expectations in any advertisement for a role.
Tesla has come under fire in the past for data it has allegedly collected from its EV owners. Earlier this year, the company was hit by a class-action lawsuit from Tesla owners after Reuters reported Tesla employees had access to photos and videos captured by cameras used for Tesla's driving assistance programs, and sometimes shared and joked about the footage internally. Tesla did not comment on the issue.
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