Tesla in the past has been very vocal about video game support for its vehicles. Now, a new job listing at Tesla suggests that the company is doubling down on the service.
It is still pretty strange talking about cars as video game platforms, but that is the reality that Tesla has created. Thanks to the powerful built-in infotainment display in the center console of most Tesla vehicles, drivers can play a handful of games right there. The majority of these titles however, are largely arcade-like games, like Fallout Shelter and BeachBuggy Racing 2, though players can hook up a controller to play titles like Cuphead. Earlier this year, it was reported that the Tesla Model S Plaid has PS5 level performance, the company's CEO, Elon Musk, showing Cyberpunk 2077 running at 60FPS strictly through the car.
A new job listing at Tesla may indicate the company is starting to become more serious about its video game offerings. The position is for a "Video Games Engineer, Infotainment Software," where the lucky applicant will have the "incredibly rare opportunity to help build a video games platform," right in the console of Tesla's vehicles. Tesla is well aware of the challenge this job is hiring for, it stating, "Our goal is to set the bar for what video games in a car can be; much of this is uncharted territory having never been done before." If the Tesla is to play games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and have many of them, it is going to take some bright engineers to make the platform worth buying into.
The responsibilities of the Video Games Engineer are like those of engineers for other game development studios. Applicants should expect to "design, architect, implement and debug game platform interfaces and systems" and "work with a cross-functional team of hardware engineers, application/UI software engineers, QA/validation, and designers," amongst other responsibilities. Tesla was hiring for video game roles some time ago, so it seems like this position may be one of a support role in the continued development of its in-car architecture, rather than developing it from the ground up. Proficiency in C++ and a strong understanding of computer science concents are just some of the requirements Tesla is looking for.
As Tesla states in the job listing, this is a field that's still being explored—even video games themselves are a medium that is still being explored. It is difficult to see the purpose in putting large budget video games into a vehicle, when one can just go into their home and play on a more traditional system, or their phone to play the arcade games that Tesla offers. Elon Musk wants more games in Tesla's cars, and to do so, the engineers must answer the question as to why a Tesla car should be able to play video games.