Tesla Inc. has laid off hundreds of workers on its Autopilot team as the electric-vehicle maker shuttered a California facility, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
Surprisingly, the majority of those who were let go were hourly workers, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. As recently as last week, CEO Elon Musk had outlined plans to cut 10 percent of salaried staff but said he would be increasing hourly jobs.
Teams at the San Mateo office were employed in evaluating customer vehicle data related to the Autopilot driver-assistance features and performing so-called data labeling. Many of the staff members were data annotation specialists, all of which are hourly positions, one of the people said.
About 200 workers were let go in total, according to the people. Prior to the cuts, the office had about 350 employees, although some had been transferred to a nearby facility in recent weeks.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tesla is trimming its ranks after a surge in hiring in recent years. The company, now based in Austin, Texas, had grown to about 100,000 employees globally as it built new factories in Austin and Berlin.