Elon Musk has been saying for a decade that Tesla is a software program firm. However the man who helped make it that method is headed for greener pastures at maybe the worst potential time.
In line with insiders who spoke to Bloomberg, longtime Tesla software program VP David Lau is departing the corporate after almost 13 years.
All through his tenure at Tesla, Lau not solely oversaw the electrical automobile firm’s “infotainment” methods and over-air updates, but additionally was one of many few C-suiters who would frequently seem with Musk at promotional occasions as, primarily, the face of its tech.
And for most of Lau’s time at Tesla, his mercurial boss has over-promised and under-delivered on each autonomous autos and robotaxis. Now, Musk’s self-imposed deadline of June 2025 is hurtling ever nearer — and the software program czar that may be liable for it’s, apparently, heading for the hills.
Although rather a lot stays unclear about this story, together with who tipped Bloomberg off and precisely why Lau is leaving Tesla, it comes not solely amid the looming robotaxi deadline, but additionally within the wake much more govt departures.
As The Verge reported based mostly on insider intel on the finish of March, Tesla’s head of engineering, Haofei Wang, can also be leaving the corporate. Equally undisclosed sources told Axios across the identical time that the corporate’s communications director, Dave Heinzinger, can also be leaving after solely three months within the function.
Whereas all of those experiences stay tacitly unconfirmed, there may be at very least one thing compelling alleged insiders to leak such tales to the press.
Throughout this identical spate of reported departures, Tesla has additionally seen historic stock losses amid protests against Musk and his politicking on both sides of the pond. Earlier within the week, a Cybertruck owner revealed on X that he’d been supplied a mere $54,000, or roughly half of what he paid, from the used automobile dealership Carvana — a put up that the official Cybertruck account took umbrage against.
Between Musk taking a battering ram to Tesla’s brand image and subsequently tanking its share value, it isn’t laborious to see why anybody would wish to depart the EV firm — and we can’t be shocked if this obvious govt exodus continues.
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