On the eve of the shareholders' meeting, Tesla's senior executives jointly issued a statement: Without Musk, Tesla is just an ordinary car company

1.

At noon on June 9th Beijing time, Ashok Elluswamy, the head of Tesla's autonomous driving, posted an article on X titled "Elon and Tesla Artificial Intelligence." The full text is as follows:

Elon Musk has always been a major advocate for Tesla's artificial intelligence and autonomous driving. He always pushes us to achieve great goals, even if these ideas seem impossible at the time. Here are a few examples:

As early as 2014, Autopilot was launched from a ridiculously small computer with only about 384KB of memory and negligible computing power (not even native floating-point operations). He asked the engineering team to achieve functions such as lane keeping, lane changing, longitudinal vehicle control, curvature, etc. Many people, even within the team, thought these requirements were too crazy. However, he never gave up and drove the team to achieve this very difficult goal. In 2015, against all odds, Tesla delivered the world's first Autopilot system. The second closest product of its kind didn't hit the market for many years.

In 2016, Tesla began internal work on all the computer vision needed for autonomous driving, no longer relying on external suppliers. Many thought it was crazy to bet on developing a vision system from scratch within a few months, as other companies often took ten years or longer. However, we achieved this goal in 11 months. This was a strategically important move that paved the way for Tesla to develop a powerful artificial intelligence team.

He not only drove powerful artificial intelligence software but also powerful artificial intelligence hardware. Tesla, which many saw as just a car company, is also producing custom chips to efficiently run neural networks. This hardware, initially designed in 2017, went into production in February 2019 and remains highly competitive compared to hardware released to date. For reference, this five-year-old artificial intelligence computer has roughly 8 times the artificial intelligence inference computing power of the most advanced Apple M3 chip. It can still run the latest end-to-end neural networks built on the latest AI technology.

He placed the bet on solving the autonomous driving problem with vision and artificial intelligence, rather than relying on sensor crutches and high-definition maps. For those who have experienced the latest version of FSD, it is obvious that it can see everything important and drive the car based on pure vision. However, this was not obvious to most people as early as 2020 and earlier. In fact, many "experts" in this field mocked Tesla and Elon's choices. We have proven them wrong by delivering supervised FSD to millions of cars and demonstrating that with good artificial intelligence software, cars can handle complex problems in city driving by observing the situation outside the car, such as turning, intersections, yielding to pedestrians, etc. In fact, we even removed radar and ultrasonics, focusing only on the core issue, which is artificial intelligence. Today, Tesla has the fewest original sensors, yet its autonomous driving capability is stronger than any mass-produced car, which is almost a paradox The reason he was able to make such a controversial bet is entirely because of his strong belief and profound understanding of the issue.

In 2021, he initiated research on humanoid robots at Tesla, which was earlier than any obvious examples of ChatGPT or other AI rises. Just like autonomous driving for cars, the development of Optimus is also aimed at enabling it with capabilities, scalability, and cost-effectiveness to serve the world widely.

I could go on, but clearly, Elon is the key to Tesla's success in the field of artificial intelligence. It is his deep understanding of technology, crazy perseverance, and relentless efforts that have made Tesla a leader in the real-world artificial intelligence field. Elon's technological intuition allows him to make these important decisions before others even realize, which is unparalleled. Without Elon's ambition, Tesla might have gradually declined and become "just another car company." In the future, fully autonomous driving cars and practical household robots will become common, and the whole world will think it should be so. Before that, we need Elon Musk to drive the development of cutting-edge technology because he has already seen this.

2.

Ashok clarified that his post was purely his personal initiative and not at the behest of others:

"I want to clarify that this is a personal statement I decided to write, aimed at explaining the importance of Elon to Tesla. While part of the reason for writing this article was considering shareholder voting, I do believe in everything I wrote."

Elon also thanked him:

"Thank you, Ashok!

Ashok was the first person to join the Tesla AI/autopilot team and eventually rose to lead all AI/autopilot software.

Without him and our outstanding team, we would just be another car company looking for a non-existent autopilot supplier.

By the way, I never suggested what he should say, and I didn't know he wrote this article until I saw it 10 minutes ago!"

3.

Several hours later, one of the former knights of the autonomous driving team and the current head of the Optimus project, Milan Kovac, also published an article:

Ashok summarized the past decade well.

In 2015, when I got into my friend's Model S, a strange feeling came over me: this car was running software everywhere, had a beautiful large touchscreen (finally a real "screen"), could receive frequent feature updates online, and came with a mobile app for necessary remote control. How could a large car company produce such a product? It was unreasonable at the time (and still is for many companies now).

In early 2016, my interview experience with the Autopilot team was completely different from most interviews I had before. We first had a technical discussion about the work I had previously done, with several engineers and executives responsible for the team at the time. We had a real discussion on the whiteboard, exchanging opinions on the issue together I have only seen team leaders or above in some small start-up company interviews.

Every subsequent 1-on-1 interview was equally practical: it was a real coding situation that engineers would encounter, not the useless LeetCode tricks commonly seen in interviews at other big companies. After the interview, the recruiters took me on a tour of the office. Everyone sat close together: Autopilot software, hardware, vehicle firmware, and many other teams, all freely exchanging ideas. Finally, we walked past Elon Musk's desk, where he sat next to the engineering team, not in any separate ivory tower.

Within a week of joining, I was brainstorming with him at team meetings, discussing technical challenges with Autopilot, just like during my interview. This continued almost every week for over 8 years.

Soon I realized clearly that Elon was the direct driving force behind this practical innovation culture, which permeated every aspect of the company.

Week after week, I witnessed Elon tirelessly building features to make people's lives better and safer, removing one obstacle after another and unnecessary layers, systematically exploring the fundamental reasons "why" - all of this was done while sleeping in the factory during the Model 3 production hell, designing new cars, striving to reduce costs, and launching new factories around the world. During this time, going through all these chapters, news headlines, and other difficult moments across the entire company, when the rocket landed on the unmanned ship in the ocean, Elon still sat with us in a room every week, often for longer periods, with one purpose only, to create products that could better change humanity.

When he announced at the 2021 AI Day that Tesla would soon launch a humanoid robot program to drive future prosperity, many once again mocked and questioned. This program has been in place for two years, and Tesla is actively testing early versions of humanoid robots, which are likely to be the first fully mature humanoid robots equipped with articulated hands, autonomously performing real tasks in a real factory through end-to-end neural networks, running entirely on the robot's computing hardware, and, using only 2D cameras.

Whether working at Tesla or not, I have to say: without Elon, these amazing things would not have happened. I can only imagine how much dimmer our future would be without his involvement and dedication.

If you hold Tesla stock, please take 5 minutes to vote.

4.

By June 13, before the disclosure of Elon's 2018 compensation vote at the Tesla shareholders' meeting, representatives from the board of directors, employees, pro and con institutions, and pro and con retail investors, all six parties had representatives speaking out, explaining their respective views.

Board of Directors

Tesla Chairman Robyn Denholm explained why shareholders were asked to re-approve the 2018 performance award, rather than design a new one: More than six years ago, in 2018, Tesla reached an agreement with Elon, and you, our shareholders, overwhelmingly approved this agreement.

The goals outlined in the 2018 award were so ambitious that critics mocked it as impossible. If he failed to achieve any of these goals, he would receive nothing, absolutely no compensation.

But Elon did not fail, he led Tesla to achieve these goals in half the specified time, about five years. His success is shared with the owners of the company - all of you.

Earlier this year, a court in Delaware intervened, replacing the judgment of shareholders and the Tesla board with its own judgment. The court supported the plaintiff's lawsuit, who held only 9 shares of Tesla when he filed the lawsuit, seeking to revoke the award.

In the following weeks, we established an independent special committee, which, with the help of independent external advisors and consultants, conducted a comprehensive evaluation of other proposals, including reapproving the 2018 award.

The special committee recognized that if the 2018 award was not reapproved, Tesla might need to negotiate with Elon on alternative compensation plans to incentivize him to dedicate his time, energy, and effort to Tesla, which would require a significant amount of time and cost.

It is estimated that granting new options equivalent in function could result in accounting expenses exceeding $25 billion, while the initially recognized expense for the 2018 award was $2.3 billion. The special committee determined that reapproval is in the best interest of the company and all its shareholders.

Furthermore, we believe that ultimately, as shareholders, your voice should matter. We believe Elon should be rewarded as agreed, for the incredible company he has helped build and the remarkable value he has created.

Tesla Director James Murdoch answered whether a re-vote on Elon's performance award would invalidate the Delaware court's ruling:

When rejecting Elon's compensation plan, the Delaware court criticized the disclosures regarding the plan in 2018 and believed that shareholders did not fully understand the compensation plan when they approved and voted on it in 2018.

We believe that a new shareholder vote will render this argument moot.

Shareholders now have the opportunity to vote again on the 2018 award, with full disclosure of all information that the Delaware court ruled was not fully disclosed at the time, as well as full disclosure of all achievements made by Elon and the company since then.

Supporting Institutions

Ron Baron, founder of Baron Funds holding 28 million shares of Tesla, firmly supports Elon:

"The contractual agreement between the company and Elon should be upheld. Our answer is clear, loud, and clear: With Elon, Tesla will be better. Tesla is Elon."

Cathie Wood, founder of Ark Invest holding over 5.3 million shares of Tesla, also quickly spoke out after the Delaware court ruling:

"I believe that the Delaware court's ruling forces Tesla to cancel the 2018 performance-based compensation plan vote for Elon Musk, which is un-American, an infringement on investor rights, and an insult to one of the most amazing successful companies in American history."

Opposing Institutions

The Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund, holding 31.6 million shares of Tesla, announced that it will vote against Elon's 2018 compensation proposal. According to Reuters:

The fund stated that it appreciates "the significant value created under Mr. Musk's leadership since the 2018 grant date."

However, "we still have concerns about the total size of the award, the structure of performance triggers, dilution, and the lack of mitigation of key person risk," said NBIM, the fund's operator, Norway's Bank Investment Management.

In 2018, the fund also voted against the proposal.

"We will continue to seek constructive dialogue with Tesla on this issue and other issues," NBIM added.

Elon's comment:

"Yes, that's not cool at all.

If they really surveyed the fund holders, they would find that the vast majority express support.

So far, about 90% of the retail shareholders who have voted have voted in favor of these two resolutions. The public's attitude is clearly supportive."

Marcie Frost, CEO of the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) holding around 9.5 million shares of Tesla, declared that they will vote against:

"As of now, apart from engaging in dialogue with Tesla, we will not vote in favor of the proposal. We believe this compensation is not commensurate with the company's performance."

Interestingly, on May 29th, Marcie mentioned on CNBC that CalPERS voted in favor of Elon's compensation plan in 2018. However, CalPERS' official account clarified later: the CEO misspoke on the show, and they actually voted against it in 2018...

Supporting Retail Shareholders

Jason Debolt, a die-hard fan holding 48,000 shares of Tesla, said: "For buying Tesla stock, the funds accumulated by Tesla shareholders over the years, all their research, their patience in holding the stock for so many years, all their wisdom and careful consideration, have all been vetoed by a judge who obviously knows the situation better than us.

Elon has taken the company from producing a few thousand cars a year to producing millions of cars a year, yet has not received any reward.

This is an insult to Tesla shareholders.

This is a slap in the face to Elon. According to the judge's ruling, Elon has apparently been working for the company for free for the past 6 years.

This is a serious threat to all companies registered in Delaware and a major disruption to shareholder voting democratic procedures.

This ruling seriously damages the interests of Tesla shareholders. We need to allow him to be incentivized in a way that matches the crazy difficulty of the work he is doing. No one's work should go unrewarded."

Opposing Retail Investors

Professor Leo Koguan, who holds over 27.6 million shares of Tesla, has transformed from a staunch supporter of Elon to an attacker:

"Dad stepped on us, so we bite back. ????

Voted with 27.68 million shares, biting back at dad. ????"

"I hope the $3 trillion company is Tesla, not NVIDIA. The CEO's priority is his private company, not Tesla. We are not fighting for market share, but for his compensation plan that has been declared invalid by the court."

5.

According to background information provided by TeslaBoomerMama and research by Broadbridge on the entire market:

In 2023, institutional investors hold 68.5% of stocks (across all companies), while retail investors hold 31.5%.

Tesla's institutional ownership is 46%, retail ownership is 40% (the remaining 14% is held by insiders).

In 2023, 80% of institutions voted (many using Glass Lewis or ISS), while 29.6% of retail investors voted.

Tesla has 10 million retail investors globally, unmatched by any other company. Dear esteemed Tesla shareholders, you have two to three days left to vote, so please vote as soon as possible to ensure no regrets on the 13th.

Article by: 瓦砾村夫， Source: 瓦砾村夫, Original Title: "Tesla's Chief Technology Officer Ashok and Milan Discuss Musk's Driving Force"