The list of key people that left Tesla in the past 24 months is veeeery long.
Quite strange for a company that's on the brink of becoming by far the most important on earth (and Mars !). Oh, for those thinking it's because it's not longer a car company but an AI / Robot company, mind you the head of Optimus program and head of Software also left this year.
Same vibes as when Karpathy left in 2022, when Tesla was supposedly on the verge of attaining Full Self Driving. Well, fast forward 3 years, they are still on the verge...
Two PMs left a company with 125,665 employees. Yes, they are very important, but this happens every day at companies all around the world. Could be burnout, they are rich, got better offers, anything really.
People are so desperate for Tesla to fail they will latch onto anything.
What is the specific criticism? You believe it should not be reported on? Or you simply don't like the tone (in which case, why are you omitting that)?
He wasn't the "head of cybertruck" - if you look at his LinkedIn, he was a lead program manager. Still an important cog in the machine, but he'd been there for 8 years from an intern.
Model Y guy makes it sound like he was more of a key person, though.
Is this article a joke? The first linked person in the article https://www.linkedin.com/posts/siddhantawasthi_i-recently-ma... - 8 years of post college experience as a PROGRAM MANAGER. For those not in tech this is akin to project manager, or someone that asks for status updates and communicates estimates and effort. Definitely not someone super technical or Director+ level.
"If we assume for a moment that Tesla’s recent sales declines are entirely due to faulty management, specifically caused by people with the job title “program manager,” then Tesla is well in its way to massive improvements. " - This style of writing is hard to parse and dumb.
"Awasthi notes in his post that his signature accomplishments at Tesla occurred “all before hitting 30.” Indeed, it appears that in 2017, when he was 23, he was a student at the University of Cincinnati working on a school project related to the Musk-led “Hyperloop” concept. "
I mean he's most likely late 20's early 30's at the moment so not sure what this is getting at.
It sure sounds like an analysis concluding that Musk hires completely unqualified people so they can be micromanaged and then scape-goats when it turns out the management they didn't participate much in was bad (or was maybe fine but could be blamed for problems beyond its particular scope).
I flagged this because even though I'm no Musk fan a couple of program managers who worked on these cars are not the "heads" of the programs nor likely very close to that.
Elo gets a trillion dollar performance based pay package, and lo two fairly significant insiders fade, too high up to just vanish, but clearly not on "the team"
the timing is highly sugestive of bet's placed, and lost
Until recently, I was fully on board with wanting CarPlay. But I'm not really sure what would change (apart from me being able to use Apple Maps).
Because the console already uses Google Maps, and I've seen release notes saying they're releasing support for 3d buildings (which I like from Apple Maps)
Anyone have good ideas of things that are truly missing?
Remembering your position in podcasts/audiobooks that I'm listening through Youtube/Storyteller. Having Youtube with SponsorBlock. Support for Youtube video and Plex, with pre-downloaded media.
I'll keep saying this until someone at Tesla sees it: They could clean up if they designed a hybrid Cybertruck II that was a bit more conventional looking. Build something cutting edge but actually useful, keep some of the edginess but tone it down just enough to bring in more sales.
The giant single wiper on the current Cybertruck is horrible, btw. Everything about that thing is horrible, actually.
I’m happy with mine after a year and a half. Haven’t had issues with the wiper and I live somewhere that rains a lot. Do you have complaints from real world experience or is it just the cosmetics you’re unhappy about?
The only real downside isn’t even the truck itself, it’s the random hostile people on the street. On the bright side I’ve turned it into a ongoing “how to deal with bullies” teaching moment for my kids :)
The list of key people that left Tesla in the past 24 months is veeeery long.
Quite strange for a company that's on the brink of becoming by far the most important on earth (and Mars !). Oh, for those thinking it's because it's not longer a car company but an AI / Robot company, mind you the head of Optimus program and head of Software also left this year.
Same vibes as when Karpathy left in 2022, when Tesla was supposedly on the verge of attaining Full Self Driving. Well, fast forward 3 years, they are still on the verge...
What's the relevance of Mars to Tesla?
Oh you hadn’t heard? Tesla, the manufacturer of mid sedans, an objectively bad truck, and zero FSD deliverables is going to populate Mars with robots
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-spacex-starship-mars-opti...
Whether or not this happens before they finally deliver the promised roadster or have a car that can navigate a city street is anyone’s guess!
Musk said it was expected to happen in 2026 so buy that stock today!
Bahaha. The idea of SpaceX landing robots on Mars next year is wild. 2036 maybe.
About the same as FSD to Tesla.
The cybertruck has a stainless steel exoskeleton design that looks airtight and tolerant to conditions on mars.
There’s just one minor problem: it is made of taped-on stainless steel laminate panels that keep falling off…
Two PMs left a company with 125,665 employees. Yes, they are very important, but this happens every day at companies all around the world. Could be burnout, they are rich, got better offers, anything really.
People are so desperate for Tesla to fail they will latch onto anything.
What is the specific criticism? You believe it should not be reported on? Or you simply don't like the tone (in which case, why are you omitting that)?
Apart from the facts (that program managers have left), the tone of the whole article feels like that this writer absolutely dislikes Musk.
Sorry, I didn't mean tone as in "dislikes Musk", I meant tone as in "unreasonably dislikes Musk".
makes one really wonder how the writer came to dislike Musk of all people...
They're low level program managers. Doomerism article for the sake of it.
The heads of Cybertruck and Model Y programs are "low level"?
He wasn't the "head of cybertruck" - if you look at his LinkedIn, he was a lead program manager. Still an important cog in the machine, but he'd been there for 8 years from an intern.
Model Y guy makes it sound like he was more of a key person, though.
More like not important, Tesla was never a car company /s
[dead]
its the only way to recoup that trillion, or do you have any other ideas?
Is this article a joke? The first linked person in the article https://www.linkedin.com/posts/siddhantawasthi_i-recently-ma... - 8 years of post college experience as a PROGRAM MANAGER. For those not in tech this is akin to project manager, or someone that asks for status updates and communicates estimates and effort. Definitely not someone super technical or Director+ level.
"If we assume for a moment that Tesla’s recent sales declines are entirely due to faulty management, specifically caused by people with the job title “program manager,” then Tesla is well in its way to massive improvements. " - This style of writing is hard to parse and dumb.
"Awasthi notes in his post that his signature accomplishments at Tesla occurred “all before hitting 30.” Indeed, it appears that in 2017, when he was 23, he was a student at the University of Cincinnati working on a school project related to the Musk-led “Hyperloop” concept. "
I mean he's most likely late 20's early 30's at the moment so not sure what this is getting at.
It sure sounds like an analysis concluding that Musk hires completely unqualified people so they can be micromanaged and then scape-goats when it turns out the management they didn't participate much in was bad (or was maybe fine but could be blamed for problems beyond its particular scope).
Musk didn't hire them personally, Tesla has 125k+ employees.
"Either it's all a joke, or none of it is."
I don't understand. This quip is a reference to The Avengers it seems from my search.
I flagged this because even though I'm no Musk fan a couple of program managers who worked on these cars are not the "heads" of the programs nor likely very close to that.
Elo gets a trillion dollar performance based pay package, and lo two fairly significant insiders fade, too high up to just vanish, but clearly not on "the team" the timing is highly sugestive of bet's placed, and lost
Tesla has all of the smells of a company about to implode
True. But right now, they’re the automaker in the best shape.
Is there any other car company that isn’t on the brink of collapse?
(Ok maybe Toyota is going ok but they also have some structural issues as a business)
The difference between Tesla and the other collapsing car companies is the Tesla share price.
Or that CEO supports Trump?
(This is HN so I assume it is more about supporting Trump but I can be wrong)
Announce a hybrid anything and it's off to the races all over again.
Model 3/Y can immediately get better with a few tweaks that won't cost Tesla a lot:
1. Enable Android Auto/CarPlay. This literally requires no additional hardware.
2. V2G (vehicle-to-grid) support. Again, zero car-side hardware changes, just software updates to allow the reverse current flow.
3. Vehicle-to-load and 120V outlets. This requires just some cheap hardware changes.
4. Steering wheel stalks and ultrasonic parking sensors. FFS.
5. Add a driver-side display (instead of a useless passenger mid-seat screen). This is the only expensive change.
If they do this, their cars can suddenly become so much more attractive.
Until recently, I was fully on board with wanting CarPlay. But I'm not really sure what would change (apart from me being able to use Apple Maps).
Because the console already uses Google Maps, and I've seen release notes saying they're releasing support for 3d buildings (which I like from Apple Maps)
Anyone have good ideas of things that are truly missing?
Remembering your position in podcasts/audiobooks that I'm listening through Youtube/Storyteller. Having Youtube with SponsorBlock. Support for Youtube video and Plex, with pre-downloaded media.
These are things that I actually want to use.
1. I actually disagree here, the built in Tesla UI is excellent.
4. They've at least brought them back on the Model 3
> 1. I actually disagree here, the built in Tesla UI is excellent.
It is not. E.g. why the heck the address search field is not displaying the _full_ address if it can't fit into the narrow search field?
> 4. They've at least brought them back on the Model 3
Oh wow. At least some progress!
I'll keep saying this until someone at Tesla sees it: They could clean up if they designed a hybrid Cybertruck II that was a bit more conventional looking. Build something cutting edge but actually useful, keep some of the edginess but tone it down just enough to bring in more sales.
The giant single wiper on the current Cybertruck is horrible, btw. Everything about that thing is horrible, actually.
I’m happy with mine after a year and a half. Haven’t had issues with the wiper and I live somewhere that rains a lot. Do you have complaints from real world experience or is it just the cosmetics you’re unhappy about?
The only real downside isn’t even the truck itself, it’s the random hostile people on the street. On the bright side I’ve turned it into a ongoing “how to deal with bullies” teaching moment for my kids :)
Maybe he got his GC and now doesn’t want to work 996 anymore because he has lots of vested TSLA gains (wild assumption on my end)