Comma Jobs

Let’s start by saying: We might get some flak for featuring this company.

Comma is a very small company that has built a system that self-drives a car from a phone. They are doing this with under 10 people… out of a basement in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco.

There are only 2 investors in Comma, Andreessen Horowitz (heard of ‘em?) and Techammer, for a total of $8.1m.

Pretty much this whole story is unusual… and it only gets weirder:

The founder, George Hotz, is what we’d describe as “a mad scientist” who started his infamous path when he became the first person to carrier-unlock the iPhone in 2007 (he was only 17 years old and traded it for a Nissan 350Z). He’s pulled a few other public stunts like hacking a Playstation 3 so much that Sony sued him and filed a temporary restraining order against him.

By 2015, Hotz was on to bigger things like trying to make a free system to turn your Honda Accord into a self-driving vehicle controlled by just a phone. After he did it a year later, George got some stern words from the State of California forbidding him to test his autonomous driving system without passing proper regulation.

Basically, this dude’s life sounds like a ‘90s computer hacker movie.

Starring a young Freddie Prinze Jr. and Angelina Jolie

Jury’s out on whether this company will crash and burn or actually pull off the impossible. But if you’re a crazy hacker looking for a wild ride, we think this might be your jam.

Pro’s:

You could be part of a tiny team that’s managed to do similar things as Tesla (kind of), and is trying to open source it for everyone to use.

Con’s:

In terms of stability, Comma seems on the very low end. While they have funding, they also have a super small team and a founder that’s on the slightly controversial side.

Who’s it for:

A crazy dreamer/hacker who wants to change the world and has super high technical abilities.

Elevator pitch to your aunt:

“Hey Aunt Shirley! I work for Comma which is a small team of people that’s managed to build a self driving car system that uses your phone. That’s right, we make stuff that can modify your Honda Accord to drive itself. We also make a free app anyone can use as a dashcam that trains our cars, and you can buy several hardware products from us to hack your car to drive itself.”

Technical Jobs at Comma: