(Reuters) -Tesla has hired former Cruise executive, Henry Kuang, as the automaker’s AI director, according to a report by news website Electrek on Thursday, as the company looks to expand robotaxi operations in the United States.
Kuang was the head of autonomy at General Motors’ self-driving unit, Cruise, till last year, according to his LinkedIn profile.
His appointment comes at a time when Tesla has seen a series of high-profile departures in the past year, including the resignation of two senior executives on Thursday.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment, while Kuang could not be reached.
While Kuang’s role at Tesla is not clear, Ashok Elluswamy, who was the first engineer hired for Tesla’s Autopilot team in 2014, has largely been leading the company’s self-driving initiatives.
Omead Afshar, a top Tesla executive and longtime Elon Musk confidant, left the electric-vehicle maker along with North America HR Director Jenna Ferrua, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
Tesla is going through sweeping company-wide restructuring, during which the electric vehicle maker has laid off thousands of employees and shifted its strategic focus toward AI-driven self-driving technology and robotics.
The company rolled out a small batch of its Model Y robotaxis in Austin, Texas on June 22, ferrying paying passengers in a small area of the city and CEO Elon Musk has pledged to expand into several U.S. cities by next year.
Musk said last month Tesla will deliver its first car autonomously from factory to customer in June.
General Motors said earlier this year that it had completed the full acquisition of its Cruise business to focus on developing the autonomous technology for personal vehicles, not robotaxis.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
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