This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares fell about 1% in early trading Friday after a senior executive overseeing the company’s Cybercab program departed ahead of its planned robo-taxi rollout.
The company confirmed that Victor Nechita, who led development of Tesla’s purpose-built autonomous taxi vehicle, has exited the firm as production milestones for the Cybercab platform progress. Tesla has not disclosed a successor or provided additional details regarding leadership transition within the program.
The departure comes as Tesla prepares to expand its autonomous ride-hailing ambitions, with management targeting robo-taxi operations across nine cities by mid-2026. The Cybercab vehicle, designed without steering wheels or pedals, represents a central component of Tesla’s strategy to shift toward artificial intelligence-driven mobility and software-based revenue streams.
Tesla already operates a limited autonomous ride service in Austin, Texas, while competitors such as Alphabet’s Waymo continue expanding commercial deployments across multiple U.S. cities. Industry participants have increased investment in self-driving infrastructure as companies compete to scale autonomous transportation networks.