Elon Musk is preparing to unveil Tesla’s long-awaited ‘RoboTaxi’ on Thursday amid growing fears that the company itself is running out of drivers after the sudden departure of four top executives.
The head of Tesla has lost his CIO, head of public policy, director of Model X programs and head of vehicle programs in less than 10 days.
And almost a third of the staff who report directly to him have left since he sent his explosive internal email in April promising to go “absolutely tough” on layoffs across the country.
Company sources said many senior officials feared their boss had lost focus on the automaker since he bought Twitter, rebranded it as X, and supported Donald Trump’s presidential bid.
“Many people at Tesla are just tired of all the noise,” said one Insider business information.
Nearly a third of Tesla staff reporting directly to Elon Musk have left since he sent his explosive internal email in April vowing to go “absolutely tough” on layoffs.
David Zhang (top left), Nagesh Saldi (top right), Jos Dings (bottom left) and Daniel Ho (bottom right) are believed to have left Tesla since September 29.
The rush out the door accelerated on September 29 when former head of vehicle programs Daniel Ho revealed on LinkedIn that he had left Tesla for industry rival Waymo.
Two days later, Jos Dings, director of public policy and business development, called it a day, and chief information officer Nagesh Saldi did the same on October 3, after 12 years at the company.
Hours later, David Zhang, the company’s former director of Model S and Model
The world’s richest man was reportedly frustrated by falling sales and the pace of job cuts when he sent out his email promising to cut staff levels in April.
The company had already laid off more than 14,000 of its global workforce, including thousands from its Texas and Buffalo factories, amid falling sales and an intensifying price war between electric vehicle makers.
He fired his head of charging infrastructure, Rebecca Tinucci, and everyone in his department, and also told Ho that his days were numbered.
“We hope these actions make it clear that we must be absolutely tough on staffing and cost-cutting,” he wrote.
“While some executive staff take this seriously, the majority still do not.”
Some employees blamed their boss’s focus on X, formerly Twitter, and his support for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for what they claim is his lack of attention to Tesla.
The departures were revealed as a damning investigation revealed a series of problems with the company’s Cybertruck, and days after the company recalled 27,000 units.
Consumer Reports identified dangerous flaws in automatic braking and cruise control, while describing visibility as “appalling.”
One former manager said executives were left “just struggling to keep our teams together.”
“That shit takes its toll,” he explained.
“Every few years, Elon comes in and cuts staff or there’s a reorganization, and it’s like you have to build everything from scratch again,” one former manager told BI.
“People get exhausted keeping up that pace.”
The sudden wave of departures was revealed when a damning review of Tesla’s Cybertruck revealed dangerous flaws in everything from automatic braking to cruise control.
Consumer Reports stated that its traction control, electronic stability control, automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning system and cruise control did not work, while visibility from the driver’s seat was “abysmal.”
A Consumer Reports test driver said reversing the Cybertruck between two other cars was “the most stressful driving experience he’s had in recent memory.”
And the company announced last week the recall of more than 27,000 of these futuristic “apocalypse-proof” cars because the rear camera image did not immediately activate on the screen when reversing.
The company’s share price has fallen more than a third from its all-time high in November 2021 and hopes are pinned on the long-awaited launch of RoboTaxi on Thursday in Los Angeles.
Also known as ‘Cybercab’, the taxi is expected to operate without a driver (no steering wheel or pedals) and offer a new transportation service operated by Tesla.
Musk posted an image of the official invitation to the event on X with the caption: “This will be one for the history books.”
The Tesla image shows a close-up of a digital camera lens that looks like an eye, possibly the eye of a robot or artificial intelligence system, and a hint at the vehicle’s traffic-detection capabilities.
Commentators have compared him to one of the most famous AIs in film history: the evil HAL from Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’.
Although the exact name of the upcoming vehicle has yet to be confirmed, Musk has referred to it as ‘Cybercab’, suggesting it could be similar in appearance to Tesla’s Cybertruck.
Tesla’s event promotional image for RoboTaxi features a close-up of a digital camera lens that looks like an eye, possibly representing the eye of a robot or artificial intelligence system.
There’s no official word on how much it would cost, but it could be similar to the Cybertruck, which sells for around $80,000 (£60,000) or more.
Currently, Tesla vehicles have intelligent autonomous features that assist a human driver, but they are nowhere near hitting the road without someone behind the wheel.
Potentially, the ‘We Robot’ event could herald a move towards full autonomy.
However, Tesla would also need regulatory approval in states and countries for its Robotaxi vision to be up and running.
