Overview
- Tesla lost manufacturing chief Mark Lupkey, who ran Cybercab assembly and end‑of‑line at its Texas factory, and Head of Product for customer experience Jose del Corral.
- Lupkey is the third senior figure tied directly to Cybercab to depart in about five weeks, following vehicle program manager Victor Nechita and robotaxi software director Thomas Dmytryk.
- Tesla built the first Cybercab in mid‑February and is aiming for a small‑volume start in April, with Elon Musk warning initial output will be “agonizingly slow.”
- The Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals and depends on unsupervised self‑driving, yet Tesla’s Austin robotaxi fleet has crashed about once every 57,000 miles and was available only 19% of tracked hours.
- Tesla lacks a federal NHTSA exemption to sell a vehicle without human controls, and current rules cap any such approval at 2,500 cars per year, limiting near‑term scaling.