Hesai: Lidar is the Future of Airbags
Hesai Technology's CEO, David Li, thinks Lidar, or light detection and ranging, could be the future of airbags despite criticism from Elon Musk. Hesai is one of the world's largest maker of lidar sensors, used in driver assistance systems. Li spoke with Bloomberg's Chief North Asia Correspondent Stephen Engle, from the sidelines of the WEF Annual Meetings in the Chinese city of Tianjin. (Source: Bloomberg)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TechCrunch
29 minutes ago
- TechCrunch
Elon Musk reportedly fires Tesla's top sales exec
Omead Afshar, Tesla's vice president in charge of sales and manufacturing in North America and Europe, has reportedly been fired by CEO Elon Musk, according to Forbes. It's not immediately known why Musk fired Afshar, who was one of his top lieutenants and closest confidants at the company. Afshar, Musk, and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. Afshar's departure was first reported by Bloomberg News. Afshar was posting support for the limited rollout of Tesla's robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, as recently as Tuesday. 'Absolutely historic day for Tesla,' he wrote on June 23 on X, the social media platform his former boss owns. 'Thank you, Elon, for pushing us all!' Afshar's departure comes at a time when the company's sales growth has vanished. Tesla sold fewer cars in 2024 than it did in 2023, the first annual drop since it started mass producing EVs more than a decade ago. Musk's involvement in U.S. politics has not helped, despite his recent pledge that he was leaving the Trump administration. Sales continued to struggle through the first half of 2025. The company's industry-leading profits fell 71% year-over-year in the first quarter. European sales fell nearly 28% percent year-over-year in May. Tesla will report global delivery figures for the second quarter next week, and financial results for the period in mid-July. Afshar was not a particularly public-facing executive at Tesla. He joined the company in 2017 and spent years working in the 'office of the CEO.' He took on increasing responsibilities ever since; Musk has previously credited Afshar with leading the construction of Tesla's massive factory in Austin, Texas. Not long after that, though, Afshar found himself in hot water. In 2022 he became a subject of an internal probe after he was allegedly involved in a plan to purchase special material for a glass building Musk reportedly wanted. Both the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating those purchases in 2023. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW Afshar moved over to SpaceX during some of that time period and reportedly was involved with X for a while. Musk elevated him to the role of vice president in late 2024 after another top executive, Tom Zhu, moved back to China. Bloomberg News also reported Thursday that Tesla's director of HR for North America, Jenna Ferrua, is no longer with the company. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Musk Confidant Afshar Leaves Tesla in Latest High-Level Exit
(Bloomberg) -- Omead Afshar, a powerful executive at Tesla Inc. and one of Elon Musk's closest confidants, has left the company, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest high-level departure during a volatile period for the electric vehicle maker. US Renters Face Storm of Rising Costs US State Budget Wounds Intensify From Trump, DOGE Policy Shifts Mapping the Architectural History of New York's Chinatown Commuters Are Caught in Johannesburg's Taxi Feuds as Transit Lags Squeezed by Crowds, the Roads of Central Park Are Being Reimagined News of the exit has circulated internally among some employees in recent days, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal information. Afshar's name no longer appeared to show up in an internal directory, two of the people said. The reason for the change and his future plans weren't immediately clear. Afshar, Musk and Tesla didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Afshar, who has worked in the office of the CEO, was promoted last year to oversee sales and manufacturing operations in North America and Europe. Those markets have become particular pain points for the automaker recently, with sales plunging due to rising competition and a consumer backlash to Musk's role in US President Donald Trump's administration. This marks the latest departure of a prominent Tesla leader in recent weeks. Milan Kovac, the head of engineering for the company's Optimus humanoid robot program, stepped down citing a desire to spend more time with his family. Jenna Ferrua, who is listed on LinkedIn as a human resources director for North America, has also left Tesla and no longer appears to be in the company directory, according to people familiar. The personnel changes punctuate a tumultuous year for Tesla, whose shares have tumbled about 19% while demand has waned for its EV models and Musk has spent time in Washington. The chief executive officer is trying to reorient the company around artificial intelligence, robots and driverless cars, recently rolling out a small number of Tesla's long-promised robotaxis in Austin. Tesla is expected to report global delivery results for the second quarter next week. Its shares briefly turned negative after Bloomberg reported Afshar's departure, and were little changed as of 11:54 a.m. in New York. Tesla Tenure Afshar joined Tesla in 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile, as the carmaker was beginning to ramp up production of the Model 3 sedan. 'I was with Elon nearly every single day during Model 3 hell,' he says in a post on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. 'This included Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, his birthday and nearly missing his brother's wedding.' Afshar was posting regularly on social media in recent days, including several messages this week praising the robotaxi launch. The executive oversaw the construction of Tesla's plant in Austin. A member of the office of the CEO since 2017, his most recent job title was listed on his LinkedIn page as a cowboy hat emoji. He came under internal scrutiny in 2022 for his role in purchasing hard-to-get construction materials, including a special kind of glass, Bloomberg reported. It's not unusual for executives to shuffle from one part of Musk's empire to another, and Afshar worked at SpaceX for a time. Tesla has just three named executive officers: Musk, Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja and Tom Zhu, senior vice president of automotive. --With assistance from Kara Carlson and Craig Trudell. (Updates with departure of human resources director, share movement beginning in sixth paragraph.) How to Steal a House Inside Gap's Last-Ditch, Tariff-Addled Turnaround Push Apple Test-Drives Big-Screen Movie Strategy With F1 Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags America's Top Consumer-Sentiment Economist Is Worried ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Oil Tanker Rates Collapse as Conflict in Middle East Abates
The cost of shipping Middle East crude to customers in Asia collapsed on Thursday, the latest sign of oil markets returning to normal after conflict eased in the world's top petroleum-exporting region. Charter rates slumped by 17% to 55.50 industry-standard Worldscale points, according to data from the Baltic Exchange in London. It works out at roughly $1.60 a barrel.
