Tesla Just Lost a Key Employee

Electric vehicle maker Tesla has just lost a key player from its team.

Zeljko Popvic, the leader of the company’s autopilot perception, is leaving to go be a part of self-driving start up company Embark.

Founded in 2015, Embark is the world’s leading developer of self-driving trucks and operates the longest automated freight route in the world. The company integrates its self-driving systems into Peterbilt semis instead of building its own vehicles completely from scratch. The company has delivered packages for Amazon as well as other companies.

At Tesla, Popovic managed the development of highly accurate maps of U.S. highways and created a “sensor fusion system” that combines data from the many cameras, radars and ultrasonic sensors that Tesla vehicles employ.

At Tesla’s recent annual shareholder meeting, CEO Elon Musk discussed the company’s cars as well as self driving and told investors that “It won’t be long before we have a 400-mile range car.”

Musk said that sometime in 2020, Tesla drivers will be able to use self-driving features in their vehicles without intervention.

He remarked, “Every car made since October 2016 is capable for full autonomy with replacement of the computer alone.” He also added, “We’ll still need regulatory approval but the capability will be there. This massively increases the value of the car. In fact, I think it’s basically financially insane to buy anything except an electric car that is upgradable to autonomy.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) and have not been compensated for this article.