Tesla Lay-offs Possible as the Company Adapts to Market Changes with Strategic Shifts

February 8, 2024

By Kevin Armstrong

Not a Tesla App

Tesla warned during its most recent earnings call that it is between two growth waves. That is not the best news for a company that posted lower-than-expected numbers in 2023. As Tesla navigates through the evolving landscape, it makes significant strategic adjustments. These adjustments may impact the more than 140,000 employees, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Amidst a backdrop of tech-sector layoffs and a broader economic shift towards artificial intelligence and energy storage, Tesla is taking proactive steps to adapt its workforce, enhance its product offerings, and leverage social media for the first time to boost its brand awareness.

Streamlining Operations Amidst Market Challenges

Tesla is also taking decisive action to address the challenges the current economic climate poses. With profit margins narrowing and a forecast of lower growth rates in vehicle deliveries in 2024, Tesla is scrutinizing its workforce to identify crucial roles and drive cost efficiencies. This strategic workforce adjustment is a response to fading demand, price cuts, and the financial impact of ongoing projects. By refining its operational focus, Tesla aims to safeguard its financial health and continue delivering innovative products.

Tesla's energy production and storage continue to lead the way for the company, with significant yearly growth and even further advancements in 2024. The company's investment in AI technologies, including developing the DoJo supercomputer, signifies a commitment to innovation. As analysts and experts note, these initiatives could significantly enhance Tesla's market value and ensure its products remain at the forefront of technological advancement.

Ramping up Advertising and Value

As reported earlier this week, Tesla has launched its first comprehensive social media advertising campaign. This strategic expansion into digital platforms marks a significant move for Tesla to increase brand awareness and address common misconceptions about EVs.

Adding to its strategic initiatives, Tesla has introduced offerings to incentivize current owners to upgrade their vehicles. The company now allows the transfer of Full Self-Driving packages and supercharging benefits to new cars, enhancing the value proposition for loyal customers.

There have also been price cuts on different models in regions worldwide. This move, coupled with the advertising efforts, demonstrates Tesla's commitment to continue to build by attracting new buyers and retaining existing ones.

As Tesla prepares for a year of potentially lower growth, its strategic shifts and focus on new technologies, refining its operations, and exploring innovative marketing strategies, Tesla is poised to navigate the challenges ahead. These efforts reflect Tesla's resilience and dedication to promoting sustainable transportation and shaping the future of mobility.

NHTSA to Streamline Approvals for Control-Free Vehicles Like Tesla’s Cybercab

June 16, 2025

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

In a letter to industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that it is overhauling its approvals process for vehicles designed without human controls.

The change addresses a regulatory bottleneck that has slowed down American companies like Tesla from deploying purpose-built Robotaxis, rather than relying on using traditional vehicles with steering wheels and pedals. The policy shift is outlined in a letter posted to the NHTSA’s website, which you can find here.

Reducing Approvals From Years to Months

Under the existing rules today, any vehicle that is built without a steering wheel or brake pedals must receive a special exemption from federal safety standards.

Obtaining exemptions for a particular vehicle was a time-consuming process for both the companies requesting exemptions and the NHTSA. The process was often a black box—nobody knew when an exemption might be granted, and approvals could take years.

The NHTSA, under the new administration’s guidelines for autonomous vehicle development, is now committed to streamlining this process. The agency will be implementing a new, faster approach immediately for receiving exemptions for autonomous vehicles without standard controls. The NHTSA expects decisions on exemption requests to be determined within months rather than years.

Accelerating the Cybercab

This change has massive implications for Tesla, which is banking on the production of the simplified and easy-to-maintain purpose-built Cybercab. The Cybercab is developed from the ground up as an autonomous Robotaxi and will be one of the key beneficiaries of this move by the NHTSA.

Knowing that a final design won't be caught in a multi-year regulatory limbo provides a level of certainty that has been missing. It allows Tesla to confidently plan the manufacturing, development, and deployment processes without worrying whether the project will get stuck in regulatory approvals.

According to the letter, the agency will publish its improved instructions for the streamlined process "shortly." With Tesla already having begun Cybercab pre-production and the goals for its deployment as soon as late 2026, there’s still a lot to be done to make autonomy a part of Tesla’s new sustainable abundance mission statement.

You Can Now Track Tesla’s Robotaxi Deployment

June 15, 2025

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Thanks to Tesla Yoda on X, we have found out that Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet is registered on the Texas Department of Transportation’s public-facing Automated Vehicle Deployment website. This makes the fleet’s movements publicly viewable and trackable, and marks a first for Tesla.

This isn’t just any old FSD test - this is the first officially acknowledged, government-tracked, and sanctioned deployment of a Tesla Model Y operating as a ride-share vehicle. But that’s not all - Texas DOT’s tracker notes that the Tesla does not have a safety driver.

View on the Map

Visitors to the Texas DOT website can filter for “Tesla”, and see, currently, a single active vehicle operating in the Austin Metro area. According to the state’s official data, here’s what we know:

Company: Tesla

Description: Ride-share service

Status in Texas: Testing

Safety Driver: No

The final point is definitely the most interesting here. While Tesla has been testing FSD with safety drivers for some time in Austin and LA for employee-only testing, this is the first time that a vehicle has been officially registered and deployed on public roads without a human behind the wheel for safety.

The fact that there is no safety driver officially shifts the liability from the occupant of the driver’s seat to Tesla, for the first time in a public setting. That’s already pretty significant - we previously dove into how Tesla plans to insure its own vehicles, and potentially owner vehicles in the Robotaxi fleets.

The status currently lists Tesla as “Testing,” confirming that the service isn’t available to the public, but this is expected to change in the coming weeks.

This testing phase is likely part of a short but crucial period that lets Tesla capture data on the safety levels of its current iteration of Unsupervised FSD without a driver supervising. Tesla already stated that they’d be avoiding difficult areas, so this testing can also expose additional areas Tesla may want to avoid, such as school zones or blind driveways.

Tesla will need to prove, both internally and externally, that FSD Unsupervised has the necessary performance to safely navigate the streets without any incidents.

Regulatory Milestone

For years, the concept of a Tesla Robotaxi has been a future promise. Now, it's a present-day reality, albeit in a testing capacity.

Having an official government body list a Tesla as an active, driverless vehicle shows that they’ve been able to clear regulatory hurdles, which Tesla has often pointed to as the issue. It demonstrates a level of confidence from both Tesla and Texas regulators in the system's capabilities.

While it's just a single vehicle for today, we’ll likely see this list slowly expand over time. Alongside being able to track Robotaxi incidents at the City of Austin’s website, we’ll be able to closely watch Tesla’s progress with its first Robotaxi deployments.