WionDrive News Desk 
China’s market regulator has announced that Tesla will be implementing software fixes for 5,836 imported vehicles, including Model 3, Model S, and Model X cars, starting from July. This action is being taken to address safety concerns identified by the regulator. Under Chinese regulations, this procedure is officially classified as a product recall. However, it remains unclear whether vehicle owners will be required or eligible to return their cars to Tesla for refunds.
In a separate development, Tesla shareholders convened on Thursday for the company’s annual meeting in Austin, Texas. During this gathering, they voted to ratify CEO Elon Musk’s substantial 2018 compensation package. This vote comes five months after a Delaware judge ordered the rescission of the pay plan, citing improper board approval. While the shareholder vote does not override the court’s ruling, it serves as a public relations victory for Musk and may bolster his future efforts to secure his performance-based stock options.
The compensation package in question was initially valued at USD 56 billion in Tesla stock. However, due to a recent decline in the company’s stock price, its current value stands at USD 44.9 billion. In January, a Delaware court criticised the package as “unfathomable.” Judge Kathaleen McCormick found that Tesla’s board lacked independence from Musk, failed to negotiate properly, and did not provide shareholders with full information before the vote on his pay plan.
Tesla’s stock price rose by 2.9 per cent on Thursday, closing at $182.47, following Musk’s announcement on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that the proposal was likely to pass. Despite this uptick, the company’s stock remains down 27 per cent for the year, primarily due to declining sales and increased competition in the Chinese market.
The annual meeting also included votes on other proposals. Notably, shareholders approved Musk’s initiative to relocate Tesla’s incorporation from Delaware to Texas, where the company’s largest U.S. factory is located.
Reflecting on the previous year’s shareholder meeting in May 2023, Musk had made several predictions and announcements. He forecasted economic improvement within 12 months, promised Cybertruck deliveries for late 2023, and mentioned plans to experiment with advertising. Recent economic indicators have shown some improvement, and Tesla has indeed begun advertising, including on X, the social media platform Musk acquired for USD 44 billion in late 2022.
Despite previously stating his intention to spend less time on X, Musk remains heavily involved in numerous ventures. He continues to serve as CEO of SpaceX and Neuralink, and last year he founded xAI, a company focused on developing large language models and an AI chatbot called Grok, utilising data and resources from X.
During the meeting, Musk, describing himself as “pathologically optimistic,” assured shareholders that Tesla is making significant strides in vehicle autonomy. He predicted that this technology could potentially “10x the value of the company.” It’s worth noting that Musk has been promising self-driving technology since 2016. Meanwhile, competitors such as Pony.ai, Didi, and Waymo have already developed and are operating commercial robotaxi services.
