Technically...

National job ranking highlights Austin's top tech benefits in list of 100 best places to work

LogicMonitor is the best place to work among Austin tech companies and startups, according to Built In.

The Silicon Hills have done it again. Built In, a national job board for tech and startups, compiled a list of the Top 100 jobs in Austin, exposing some of the most desirable benefits in the industry. Although not all of the top 10 have to do with AI, many do, and there is certainly an intelligence in how tech companies are treating their employees that may be changing the job landscape in Austin overall.

LogicMonitor leads the pack as the overall best place to work in Austin. The 1140-person AI and cloud business was founded in 2007 and garnered 74 “top perks and benefits” in the survey, including a continuing education stipend, adoption assistance, and an onsite gym. These perks carried LogicMonitor to No.21 in the overall U.S. list. In Austin, it is followed by Canva, a free online design tool; SambaNova, an AI platform; Unity, a game design platform; and Atlassian, a software developer.

Built In’s annual awards uses an algorithm to compare companies regardless of size, using metrics around compensation and benefits. These are weighted to reflect what employees search for most often on the job board. Users browsing the list can narrow the list down by company size; Umbra Space is the top small business (with 85 employees), and SambaNova tops the midsize category (with 200 employees).

The top 10 places to work in Austin, according to Built In:

No. 1, LogicMonitor
No. 2, Canva
No. 3, SambaNova
No. 4, Unity
No. 5, Atlassian
No. 6, Udemy
No. 7, DoorDash
No. 8, Khoros
No. 9, Duo Security
No. 10, Adobe

Some of the especially timely benefits for the brave new world of hybrid or at-home workers include home office stipends, specific remote work programs, and daily syncs. Other benefits make the office a great place to be: game rooms, company outings, and commuter benefits. Across the board, some trailblazing companies were praised for especially low pay gaps by gender, and time and resources allotted for learning.

A full list of the top 100 companies, plus options to view other cities’ lists, are available at builtin.com.

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Defensive Driving

Austin-based Tesla faces new probe focused on remote driving feature

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating 2.6 million Teslas.

Federal regulators have opened an investigation into 2.6 million Teslas after reports of crashes involving the use of company technology that allows drivers to remotely command their vehicle to return to them, or move to another location, using a phone app.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also said Tuesday, January 7 that Austin-based Tesla did not report any of the accidents. Tesla is under order to report crashes on “publicly accessible roads” involving vehicles being operated through its autonomous driving technology.

The new investigation follows another probe launched in October looking into the company's “Full Self-Driving” system after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. That investigation covers 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

One driver filed a complaint after a crash while using Tesla's “Actually Smart Summon” technology and NHTSA is looking into another three similar incidents based on media reports, the NHTSA said. The agency is looking into 12 total incidents reported by users of the technology.

Each of the vehicles failed to detect posts and other parked vehicles, according to the NHTSA.

Regulators say the vehicles struck objects because the users had "too little reaction time to avoid a crash, either with the available line of sight or releasing the phone app button, which stops the vehicle’s movement.”

Shares of Tesla Inc. slid more than 4 percent in late afternoon trading Tuesday.

Musk has complained that U.S. regulations are too onerous and are holding back the development of self-driving cars. Ethics experts are worried that once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Musk will push him to ease oversight of Tesla, which just suffered its first decline in annual sales in more than a decade.

Musk donated an estimated $250 million to Trump's presidential campaign and is a frequent guest at Trump's Mar-a-Lago, vetting cabinet nominees and meeting with foreign heads of state. Trump has put Musk in charge of an advisory group, the Department of Government Efficiency, that will recommend where to cut government expenses and staff at federal agencies and reduce regulation.

The NHTSA said it will look into the top speed that Teslas can reach when users deploy its “summons” technology, as well as restrictions on public roads and line of sights requirements. It also said it expects to check for any “connectivity delays" with the app that could result in increased stopping distance.

Tesla’s Model 3 owner’s manual says that its “summons” feature is designed for use only in parking lots and driveways on private property and is disabled on public roads.

The new probe covers 2016-2025 Model S and X vehicles, 2017-2025 Model 3, 2020-2025 Model Y equipped with Tesla's Full Self-Driving driver assistance system.

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