Elon Musk is preparing to unveil Tesla‘s long-awaited ‘RoboTaxi’ on Thursday amid growing fears that the company itself is becoming driverless after the sudden departure of four top executives.
The Tesla boss has lost his CIO, public policy chief, Model X program manager and head of vehicle programs in less than 10 days.
And nearly a third of staff who report directly to him have walked since he issued his bombshell internal email in April promising to go ‘absolutely hardcore’ with layoffs across the country.
Sources in the company said many senior staff feared their boss had lost focus on the carmaker since buying Twitter and renaming it X, and throwing his weight behind Donald Trump‘s presidential bid.
‘A lot of people at Tesla are just tired of all the noise,’ one told Business Insider.
Nearly a third of Tesla staff who report directly to Elon Musk have walked since he issued his bombshell internal email in April promising to go ‘absolutely hardcore’ with layoffs
David Zhang (top left), Nagesh Saldi (top right), Jos Dings (bottom left), and Daniel Ho (bottom right) are all thought to have quit Tesla since September 29
The rush for the door gathered pace 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, the director of public policy and business development called it a day, and Chief Information Officer Nagesh Saldi followed suit on October 3, after 12 years at the company.
Hours later David Zhang, the company’s former Model S and Model X program manager, confirmed that he had left, before Marc Van Impe announced he was quitting as Tesla’s head of global vehicle automation and safety policy.
The world’s richest man was reportedly frustrated by falling sales and the pace of job cuts when he sent his email vowing slash 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, in the face of dropping sales and an intensifying price war among EV makers.
He sacked his charging infrastructure chief Rebecca Tinucci and everyone in her department, and also told Ho that his days were numbered.
‘Hopefully these actions are making it clear that we need to be absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction,’ he wrote.
‘While some on exec staff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so.’
Some staff blamed their boss’s focus on X, formerly Twitter, and his backing of 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 host of problems with the firm’s Cybertruck, and days after 27,000 were recalled by the company
Consumer Reports identified dangerous malfunctions in it automatic braking and cruise control, while describing visibility as ‘appalling’
One former manager said executives were left ‘just fighting to keep our teams together’.
‘That s*** takes its toll,’ he explained.
‘Every few years Elon comes in and slashes head count or there’s a reorg, and it’s like you have to build everything from scratch again,’ a former manager told BI.
‘People get burned out from keeping up that kind of pace.’
What is Tesla’s ‘RoboTaxi’?
Tesla’s RoboTaxi is the next product to be unveiled by Elon Musk’s automotive company.
It’s expected to be a fully-autonomous, driverless vehicle that can be hailed by passengers using an Uber-style app.
Exact features are to be confirmed, but Musk has teased that it will have no steering wheel or pedals.
The exact name is also TBC, but Musk has referred to it as ‘Cybercab’, suggesting it could be similar in appearance to Tesla’s Cybertruck.
The sudden wave of departures was revealed as a damning review of Tesla’s Cybertruck revealed dangerous malfunctions in everything from its automatic braking to its cruise control.
Consumer Reports claimed that its traction control, electronic stability control, automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning system and cruise control were inoperable, while visibility from the driver’s seat was ‘abysmal.’
One test driver with Consumer Reports said backing up the Cybertruck between two other cars was ‘the most stressful experience he’s had behind the wheel in recent memory.’
And the company announced a recall for more than 27,000 of the futuristic ‘apocalypse-proof’ cars last week because the rear camera image didn’t immediately activate on screen when shifted into reverse.
The company’s share price has fallen by more than a third since its all-time high in November 2021 and hopes are pinned on Thursday’s keenly anticipated RoboTaxi launch in Los Angeles.
Also referred to as ‘Cybercab’, the taxi is expected to be fully driverless – with no steering wheel or pedals – and offer a new Tesla-operated ride-hailing service.
Musk posted an image of the official event invite on X with the caption: ‘This will be one for the history books.’
Tesla’s image features a close-up of a digital camera lens that looks like an eye – possibly the eye of a robot or an AI system and a hint at the vehicle’s traffic detection capabilities.
Commentators have compared it to one of the most famous AIs in cinematic history – the evil HAL from Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’.
Although the exact name of the upcoming vehicle is to be confirmed, Musk has referred to it as ‘Cybercab‘, suggesting it could be similar in appearance to Tesla’s Cybertruck.
Tesla’s event promo image for the RoboTaxi features a close-up of a digital camera lens that looks like an eye – possibly representing the eye of a robot or an artificial intelligence system
There’s no official word on how much it would cost, but it could be similar to Cybertruck, which retails for around $80,000 (£60,000) or more.
Currently, Tesla vehicles have intelligent autonomous features that assist a human driver, but are nowhere near to taking to the road without someone behind the wheel.
Potentially, the ‘We Robot’ event could announce a breakthrough to full autonomy.
However, Tesla would need also need regulatory approval in states and countries to get his Robotaxi vision up and running.
