Tesla drops a bombshell ahead of anticipated robotaxi event

On October 10, Tesla CEO Elon Musk (TSLA) is expected to put on a Hollywood-style show as he headlines the much-anticipated ‘robot event’ at the Warner Brothers studio.

The event itself, originally slated for August 8, would be a major product announcement for some of Tesla’s more ambitious projects, such as the “Cybercab” robotaxi and a possible $25,000 electric car.

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On October 2, Tesla reported its third-quarter 2024 deliveries, which were up 6% year-over-year. But despite the positive news, the numbers still failed to meet analysts’ expectations.

Plus, a new report suggests that Tesla has another bombshell to drop ahead of its milestone event.

The Tesla Gigafactory from Brandenburg, Grünheide, Germany

image alliance/Getty Images

Sayonara to a long-time Tesla executive

According to insiders who spoke to Bloomberg, Tesla lost its top data lead just days before it was scheduled to hold its Robotaxi event on October 10.

Tesla employees have been informed that the automaker’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) Nagesh Saldi has left the company.

In his former CIO position, Saldi reported directly to Elon Musk and was responsible for developing the company’s large computing capacity in preparation for its big move into artificial intelligence and robotics.

Some projects he undertook included building Tesla data centers in Austin, Texas and Buffalo, New York, as well as developing custom enterprise software known as Tesla One.

Saldi has been with Tesla since 2012, having previously worked for other Silicon Valley staples such as Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Infosys. He was elevated to CIO in 2018 amid a production ramp-up.

The former CIO is the latest in a small exodus of key Tesla executives from their positions. Drew Baglino, the former senior vice president, and Rohan Patel, the former head of government affairs, left Tesla in April of this year. Allie Arebalo, his former head of HR, left for muskless pastures just a month later.

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Tesla Bulls still believe

Despite the changes in the company’s leadership, the biggest believers of Musk and Co. I’m still in the running until October 10th.

Notoriously, Wedbush Tesla bull Daniel Ives’ latest note published on Friday made no mention of the executive change, but rather delivered a message of stellar confidence for the company to attend the anticipated Robotaxi event.

“We believe Robotaxi Day will be a seminal and historic day for Musk and Tesla and marks a new chapter of growth around the future of autonomous, FSD and AI at Tesla,” Ives said in his note. “We continue to believe that Tesla is the most undervalued AI name on the market, and we expect that Musk & Co. to unveil ‘game-changing’ autonomous technology at this event next week.”

He reiterated his belief that Tesla is more than “just an electric vehicle supplier” and that its push into AI and robotics will be a key turning point going forward.

“We continue to believe that AI/FSD represents a $1 trillion value to Tesla alone in the coming years,” he said. “Next week, it’s time for Musk to have an unveiling event to kick off this AI era at Tesla.”

Wedbush maintained an “Outperform” rating and $300 price target on Tesla stock.

Tesla Inc. trades on NASDAQ as TSLA and is up 3.6% Friday, trading at $249.33 a share.

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