According to news website Electrek on Thursday,TeslaTesla has hired former Cruise executive Henry Kuang as the automaker's artificial intelligence director as it seeks to expand its self-driving taxi business in the United States. According to Henry Kuang's LinkedIn profile, as of last year, he served asGeneral MotorsHead of self-driving unit at self-driving subsidiary Cruise.
His appointment comes as Tesla has experienced a series of high-profile departures over the past year, including the resignations of two top executives on Thursday.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment, and Kuang could not be reached.
While Kuang's specific role at Tesla is unclear, Ashok Eluswamy, the first engineer hired by Tesla's autonomous driving team in 2014, has largely been leading the company's autonomous driving projects.
Tesla executive Omid Afshar, a longtime Elon Musk confidant, has left the electric car maker along with North American human resources chief Jenna Ferua, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
Tesla is in the midst of a sweeping corporate restructuring in which the electric car maker has cut thousands of jobs and shifted its strategic focus toward artificial intelligence-driven self-driving technology and robotics.
The company launched low-volume Model Y self-driving taxis in Austin, Texas, on June 22, picking up paying passengers in a small area of the city, and CEO Elon Musk has promised to expand operations to multiple U.S. cities by next year.
Musk said last month that Tesla would have fully autonomous deliveries of its first cars from factory to customers in June.
General Motors said earlier this year it had completed a full acquisition of its Cruise business in order to focus on developing self-driving technology for personal vehicles rather than self-driving taxis.