Media Contact
Adam Allington
Elon Musk received some good news from China this week, when officials gave their in-principle approval for Tesla to roll out its Full Self-Driving technology in the country.
However, the news comes amid layoffs for a tenth of its work force, including the critical supercharger team, and a questionable strategic pivot to robotaxies.
Arthur Wheaton
Director of Labor Studies, ILR School
Art Wheaton is an expert on transportation industries and serves as director of labor studies at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR). He says he has major questions about the direction the company is headed.
Wheaton says:
“Tesla has major problems ahead. Its stock is based on a new technology/business model, but the electric cars have become the same for GM, Ford, etc. with much lower stock values.
“Tesla is trying to have a unique business to justify the very high stock price and a cheaper electric vehicle is not sexy or dramatic enough to justify higher values. Robo Taxi sounds futuristic and nobody else is successful in that area yet.
“Self-driving vehicles are facing big obstacles in crashes and local government approvals. The amount of data required to process autonomous driving is staggering and the potential for problems are life threatening. Much like a trip to mars sounds grandiose, just not practical given today’s technology.”
