Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk on Sunday denied rumors of hiring Uber Technologies co-founder Travis Kalanick to advise or head the company's robotaxi division.
What Happened: "False," Musk said about the rumors on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
False
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2024
"All that matters is improving Tesla self-driving AI such that miles between interventions is >> human," Musk said in another post about having pulled Kalanick into the Tesla universe.
All that matters is improving Tesla self-driving AI such that miles between interventions is >> human
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2024
The rumors of Kalanick joining Tesla kicked off after Musk started following the Uber co-founder on X last week despite the latter not posting anything since 2019. Some speculated that Kalanick might be roped into Tesla to spearhead its robotaxi division as the company gears to unveil its robotaxi product on Aug. 8.
Kalanick left his role as Uber CEO in 2017 and left its Board of Directors in 2019. The former Uber CEO is now CEO of City Storage Systems and runs the 10100 Fund.
Why It Matters: During Tesla's annual shareholder meeting in June, Musk said that Tesla's robotaxi fleet will operate like a combination of Airbnb and Uber with Tesla owning a part of the fleet and Tesla owners being able to let their private vehicles join and exit the fleet at will.
The robotaxi unveil is part of Musk's efforts to turn Tesla from an automaker to an AI, robotics, and sustainable energy company and boost its value.
"While autonomous vehicle is a $5-$7 trillion market cap situation, Optimus is a $25 trillion market cap situation," Musk said last month.
He also said in April that dedicating to autonomous driving is a "blindly obvious move" for Tesla.
"Even if I got kidnapped by aliens tomorrow, Tesla will solve autonomy, maybe a little slower, but it would solve autonomy for vehicles at least," Musk said at the company's first-quarter earnings call. "If somebody doesn't believe Tesla is going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company."
特斯拉公司（纳斯达克股票代码：TSLA）首席执行官埃隆·马斯克周日否认了有关聘请优步科技联合创始人特拉维斯·卡兰尼克为该公司机器人出租车部门提供建议或领导的传闻。
发生了什么：“错误，” 马斯克在谈到社交媒体平台X（前身为Twitter）上的传闻时说。
假的
— 埃隆·马斯克 (@elonmusk) 2024 年 7 月 7 日
马斯克在另一篇关于将卡兰尼克带入特斯拉世界的文章中说：“重要的是改进特斯拉的自动驾驶人工智能，使干预措施之间的距离达到>>人为的。”
重要的是改进特斯拉的自动驾驶人工智能，使干预措施之间的距离是 >> 人为的
— 埃隆·马斯克 (@elonmusk) 2024 年 7 月 7 日
卡兰尼克加入特斯拉的传闻是在马斯克上周开始在X上关注优步联合创始人之后开始的，尽管后者自2019年以来没有发布任何内容。有人推测，卡兰尼克可能会被邀请加入特斯拉领导其机器人出租车部门，因为该公司正准备在8月8日推出其机器人出租车产品。
卡兰尼克于 2017 年辞去优步首席执行官一职，并于 2019 年离开董事会。这位前优步首席执行官现在是城市存储系统的首席执行官，负责管理10100基金。
为何重要：在6月的特斯拉年度股东大会上，马斯克表示，特斯拉的机器人出租车车队将像爱彼迎和优步的组合一样运营，特斯拉拥有一部分车队，特斯拉车主可以让他们的私家车随意加入和退出车队。
robotaxi的推出是马斯克将特斯拉从汽车制造商转变为人工智能、机器人和可持续能源公司并提高其价值的努力的一部分。
马斯克上个月表示：“虽然自动驾驶汽车的市值为5-7万亿美元，但擎天柱的市值为25万亿美元。”
他还在4月表示，致力于自动驾驶对特斯拉来说是一个 “显而易见的举动”。
马斯克在公司第一季度财报电话会议上说：“即使我明天被外星人绑架，特斯拉也会解决自动驾驶问题，可能要慢一点，但至少可以解决车辆的自动驾驶问题。”“如果有人不相信特斯拉会解决自主权问题，我认为他们不应该成为该公司的投资者。”
