There’s some govt shuffling occurring at Tesla. Two key leaders have left not too long ago – considered one of them being fired by CEO Elon Musk – however the firm additionally employed an exec from Cruise, GM’s failed robotaxi firm.
Yesterday, reviews from Forbes and CNBC stated that Musk had fired Omead Afshar, who previously led operations in North America and Europe and was a detailed confidant of Musk’s. (Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal additionally reported that Afshar left the corporate, although didn’t say he was fired.) The firing follows a significant hunch in gross sales for Tesla’s automotive enterprise – final quarter, income for that group fell 20 % year-over-year.
Afshar first joined Tesla in 2017, the place he began as a venture supervisor within the workplace of the CEO, in line with his LinkedIn. In 2022, he was reportedly investigated internally for a glass buy for a secret venture.
Tesla additionally not too long ago misplaced Milan Kovac, its VP who headed up the Optimus humanoid robotics staff. Kovac stated that he left as a result of he wanted to spend extra time with household overseas. Musk thanked Kovac in a reply.
So as to add to its govt ranks, although, Tesla employed Henry Kuang, who previously was Head of Autonomy at Cruise, Electrek reports. He lists his title as “Director, AI / Deep Studying for Autonomous Driving” on his LinkedIn, which says he began within the job in Might. Tesla is ramping up its robotaxi efforts, although the preliminary launch this month has been rocky.