[HN Gopher] The Head of the Cybertruck Program Quit Tesla. Model...
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       The Head of the Cybertruck Program Quit Tesla. Model Y Leader Left
       Hours Later
        
       Author : rbanffy
       Score  : 40 points
       Date   : 2025-11-11 21:26 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (gizmodo.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (gizmodo.com)
        
       | TheAlchemist wrote:
       | 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...
        
         | stevage wrote:
         | What's the relevance of Mars to Tesla?
        
           | TheOtherHobbes wrote:
           | About the same as FSD to Tesla.
        
             | hedora wrote:
             | 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...
        
       | 650 wrote:
       | 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.
        
         | supportengineer wrote:
         | "Either it's all a joke, or none of it is."
        
           | 650 wrote:
           | I don't understand. This quip is a reference to The Avengers
           | it seems from my search.
        
       | moomoo11 wrote:
       | 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)
        
       | outside1234 wrote:
       | Tesla has all of the smells of a company about to implode
        
         | tlogan wrote:
         | 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)
        
           | chairmansteve wrote:
           | The difference between Tesla and the other collapsing car
           | companies is the Tesla share price.
        
         | lisbbb wrote:
         | Announce a hybrid anything and it's off to the races all over
         | again.
        
       | leetharris wrote:
       | 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.
        
         | pestatije wrote:
         | its the only way to recoup that trillion, or do you have any
         | other ideas?
        
         | happytoexplain wrote:
         | 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)?
        
           | 650 wrote:
           | They're low level program managers. Doomerism article for the
           | sake of it.
        
             | faidit wrote:
             | The heads of Cybertruck and Model Y programs are "low
             | level"?
        
       | cyberax wrote:
       | 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.
        
         | NoPicklez wrote:
         | 1. I actually disagree here, the built in Tesla UI is
         | excellent.
         | 
         | 4. They've at least brought them back on the Model 3
        
       | lisbbb wrote:
       | 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.
        
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       (page generated 2025-11-11 23:02 UTC)