Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his security detail depart the company’s local office in Washington, January 27, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his staff are meeting Wednesday with California Governor Gavin Newsom and touring Tesla’s new engineering headquarters. Sources close to the governor told CNBC the meeting at Tesla’s engineering office in Palo Alto, California, which is being dubbed HQ2, is expected to focus on the company’s efforts to create jobs and expand in the state.
The expansion will focus on hiring engineers proficient in research development and artificial intelligence. Tesla is taking over the lease for the office space, previously occupied by Hewlett-Packard. The plans will help accelerate efforts to produce autonomous driving and robot technology.
Sources said Musk initiated the meeting after several previous attempts to set up talks between the state’s most well-known politician and the most outspoken billionaire failed to materialize.
It comes as Tesla faces regulatory scrutiny in the state. The California Department of Motor Vehicles has formally accused Tesla of engaging in deceptive marketing and advertising practices where its driver assistance programs, brand-named Autopilot and Full Self-Diving, are concerned. And the state’s civil rights agency has sued Tesla alleging racist harassment of, and discrimination against, Black workers that has persisted for years at the company’s car assembly plant and other facilities in California.
Meanwhile, according to Tesla’s most recent annual financial filing with the SEC, district attorneys in different California counties are “conducting an investigation into Tesla’s waste segregation practices,” for hazardous waste-related code violations.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
California and its strong climate initiatives have been integral to Tesla’s success. California leads the nation’s zero-emission vehicle market with nearly 1.4 million ZEVs sold and it’s…
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