Tesla loses key execs but hires a new one from GM’s failed robotaxi company

There’s some executive shuffling going on at Tesla. Two key leaders have left recently – one of them being fired by CEO Elon Musk – but the company also hired an exec from Cruise, GM’s failed robotaxi company.

Yesterday, reports from Forbes and CNBC said that Musk had fired Omead Afshar, who formerly led operations in North America and Europe and was a close confidant of Musk’s. (Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal also reported that Afshar left the company, though did not say he was fired.) The firing follows a major slump in sales for Tesla’s automotive business – last quarter, revenue for that organization fell 20 percent year-over-year.

Afshar first joined Tesla in 2017, where he started as a project manager in the office of the CEO, according to his LinkedIn. In 2022, he was reportedly investigated internally for a glass purchase for a secret project.

Tesla also recently lost Milan Kovac, its VP who headed up the Optimus humanoid robotics team. Kovac said that he left because he needed to spend more time with family abroad. Musk thanked Kovac in a reply.

To add to its executive ranks, though, Tesla hired Henry Kuang, who formerly was Head of Autonomy at Cruise, Electrek reports. He lists his title as “Director, AI / Deep Learning for Autonomous Driving” on his LinkedIn, which says he started in the job in May. Tesla is ramping up its robotaxi efforts, though the initial launch this month has been rocky.