What We’re Reading
Elon Musk goes ‘absolutely hard core’ in another round of Tesla layoffs The Verge, April 30, 2024
The start of 2024 has been less than optimal for Tesla. With stock prices tumbling to a 6-year low, increased competition, decreased demand, NHTSA investigations of its Autopilot system, and a recall of the much anticipated Cybertruck, Tesla has just announced a second round of layoffs. Included in the latest round of layoffs were senior director of EV charging, Rebecca Tinucci, and most of her 500-person team. Tinucci was with Tesla for six years and oversaw the adoption of the North American Charging Standard, developed by Tesla. Other senior leaders laid off included Daniel Ho, a ten-year veteran who served as director of vehicle programs and new product initiatives, and most of the public policy team that was led by Rohan Patel, who left the company during the previous round of layoffs.
Musk makes surprise visit to Beijing as Tesla’s China-made cars pass data security rules BBC, April 28, 2024
Local Chinese authorities have lifted restrictions on Tesla vehicles following their compliance with China’s data security regulations, as announced by the company recently. Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s visit to Beijing coincided with this development, occurring during a significant auto show in the city. The move allows Tesla cars, along with other electric vehicle brands, to meet the country’s data security requirements, reinforcing aspects such as data anonymization and notification protocols. Despite this progress, uncertainties remain about the availability of Tesla’s Full Self Driving software in China, with industry experts indicating potential challenges in its local operation. JL Warren Capital CEO and Head of Research Junheng Li said on X that there’s “no strategic value” for Beijing to support FSD’s domestic rollout when there are many high-quality local alternatives, such as Xpeng’s driver-assist software.
Legislation restricting self-driving vehicles proposed in California Repairer Driven News, April 26, 2024
California has introduced two bills focused on setting further restrictions on fully autonomous vehicles on their roadways. The first bill, AB1777, would require manufactures to set up communication services that would allow nearby first responders to communicate with remote human operators as robotaxis drive themselves, as well as procedures for handling traffic violations and mandatory accident notification. Senate Bill SB915, introduced in January, is aimed at giving cities and counties the right to create service charges, fees, and assessments needed to administer any policy created by an ordinance. Before operating on roadways, cities and counties would be required to create AV policies that include requiring robotaxis have an override system for first responders, capping the number of vehicles on the road and setting permissible hours of operations.