Tesla hires former Cruise executive as AI director amid robotaxi push

Published 27/06/2025, 17:04
© Reuters

Investing.com -- Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has hired Henry Kuang, a former Cruise executive, as its AI director, according to a report by Electrek on Thursday. This move comes as the electric vehicle maker looks to expand its robotaxi operations across the United States.

Kuang previously served as the head of autonomy at General Motors (NYSE:GM)’ self-driving unit, Cruise, until last year, as shown on his LinkedIn profile.

The hiring occurs during a period of significant personnel changes at Tesla. On Thursday, two senior executives resigned from the company - Omead Afshar, a top executive and longtime confidant of CEO Elon Musk, and Jenna Ferrua, North America HR Director.

While Kuang’s specific responsibilities at Tesla remain unclear, Ashok Elluswamy has been the primary leader of Tesla’s self-driving initiatives since joining as the first engineer on the Autopilot team in 2014.

On June 22, Tesla launched a small fleet of Model Y robotaxis in Austin, Texas. These vehicles are now transporting paying passengers within a limited area of the city. Musk has stated his intention to expand this service to several more U.S. cities by next year.

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