AUSTIN, Texas, March 10, 2026, 18:12 CDT
Sendil Palani, Tesla’s vice president of finance, is departing after a 17-year stint, adding to the list of high-level exits as Elon Musk steers the company further from autos and into self-driving tech and robotics.
Tesla is pushing investors to weigh its advances in self-driving tech over the usual car delivery numbers. That shift comes while BYD, its Chinese competitor, is tightening the screws in Europe and Tesla’s sales figures are still uneven.
Tesla announced a $2 billion commitment to xAI back in January, bumping its planned capital outlays for 2026 to more than $20 billion—even as 2025 revenue dipped roughly 3%. That marked the automaker’s first yearly drop. “Tesla is entering a transition phase,” Investing.com senior analyst Thomas Monteiro noted, emphasizing that rollout milestones now carry more weight than sheer delivery numbers. Reuters
Palani, vice president at Tesla since 2021, posted on X that he’s closing out “seventeen incredible years” at the company, remembering how he joined during a so-called “Tesla Deathwatch.” Musk chimed in, calling Palani’s long run an “epic contribution.” LinkedIn
This is more than just a finance shake-up. Back in February, Tesla tapped its Europe chief Joe Ward to oversee global sales following Raj Jegannathan’s departure from the North American sales role. And only last week, software boss Thomas Dmytryk highlighted that his team was behind Tesla’s remote software updates as well as the core of its ride-hailing platform.
Tesla’s sales picture remains mixed. February registrations climbed in France, Spain, Norway and Belgium, hinting at steadier business in parts of Europe. But numbers slipped in the UK, Italy, Denmark and Sweden, where BYD and other Chinese competitors have been picking up share.
Robotaxis are catching the heat. This week, U.S. regulators pulled in Waymo, Zoox, and several other autonomous vehicle firms for a safety forum, and on Tuesday, the government opened up public comment on Zoox’s proposal to roll out as many as 2,500 robotaxis—no steering wheels included. Waymo says it has racked up 200 million driverless miles and is now handling 400,000 paid rides weekly. Tesla, by comparison, only kicked off Austin rides without in-car safety monitors this January.
Tesla now faces a regulatory credibility check. According to California records reviewed by Reuters, the company reported zero self-driving test miles in the state last year. In sharp contrast, Waymo racked up over 13 million miles before securing approval to charge for driverless rides. Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who has worked with California regulators, put it bluntly: Tesla’s message is that “regulators are ready, and they are not.” Reuters
Tesla stock barely budged after hours Tuesday, ticking up just 0.1% to $399.24.
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