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Tesla’s entry-level wages for Giga Berlin are a ‘blast’ at their level: workers’ agency head
It appears that Tesla is setting itself up to be one of the more generous employers in the German automotive industry, with recent reports from local media outlets noting that the electric car maker will be paying its entry-level employees at the Gigafactory Berlin site salaries that are far beyond the industry standard. This was highlighted by Jochem Freyer, the Head of Worker Agency at Frankfurt.
Speaking with local media, Freyer remarked that while discussions are still ongoing with Tesla about the salary plan for employees at the Gigafactory Berlin site, the lowest pay for base workers has already been set. Tesla has agreed to pay workers without education and who were unemployed at the time of their application at the company a salary of €2,700 per month. This amount, Freyer explained, is very high, and it is rare to see companies committing such a salary for its entry-level workers.
“We have agreed to confidentiality on salary issues. A lot is still in flux. But the lower limit is in place. For Tesla, it is not a no-go to hire someone who has been out of a job for a long time or who has no completed vocational training. This is a statement that many other companies do not make. The pay is just a blast for this level,” Freyer said.
The Worker Agency head further noted that workers at Gigafactory Berlin who have relevant vocational training could expect to be paid at least €3,500 per month. These wages, in a way, should somewhat placate concerns from skeptics who have assumed that Tesla will be paying its employees at Giga Berlin below union levels. As remarked by EV industry watcher Alex Voigt, Tesla has so far declined to participate in the Union, but by doing so, the electric car maker would be able to pay its employees more.
So far, the first hires for Gigafactory Berlin have already happened. Freyer noted that for Phase 1 of the massive electric vehicle production facility, about 7,000 workers are expected to be hired by Tesla. Later in 2022, another 5,000 employees are expected to follow. Freyer remarked that ultimately, around four out of five workers at Gigafactory Berlin would likely be from the region, providing a healthy boost to the local economy.
“I think it’s realistic that in the end four out of five jobs will be filled with applicants from the region,” Freyer said.
Tesla and its construction partners are currently moving at an incredibly fast pace to build the first phase of Gigafactory Berlin, which is allotted for the production of the Model Y. And while Tesla is currently seeing challenges with its permits, it appears that the progress of the massive facility will likely be maintained. During CEO Elon Musk’s recent visit to the Germany-based site, for example, he met with Brandenburg’s Economics Minister Jörg Steinbach (SPD) for a crisis discussion of sorts. Reports have hinted that as per Musk and Steinbach’s discussions, everything will be done to ensure that Tesla will be able to start its vehicle production operations in Giga Berlin sometime in 2021.
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Tesla ride-hailing Safety Monitor dozes off during Bay Area ride
We won’t try to blame the camera person for the incident, because it clearly is not their fault. But it seems somewhat interesting that they did not try to wake the driver up and potentially contact Tesla immediately to alert them of the situation.
A Tesla Robotaxi Safety Monitor appeared to doze off during a ride in the California Bay Area, almost ironically proving the need for autonomous vehicles.
The instance was captured on camera and posted to Reddit in the r/sanfrancisco subreddit by u/ohmichael. They wrote that they have used Tesla’s ride-hailing service in the Bay Area in the past and had pleasant experiences.
However, this one was slightly different. They wrote:
“I took a Tesla Robotaxi in SF just over a week ago. I have used the service a few times before and it has always been great. I actually felt safer than in a regular rideshare.
This time was different. The safety driver literally fell asleep at least three times during the ride. Each time the car’s pay attention safety alert went off and the beeping is what woke him back up.
I reported it through the app to the Robotaxi support team and told them I had videos, but I never got a response.
I held off on posting anything because I wanted to give Tesla a chance to respond privately. It has been more than a week now and this feels like a serious issue for other riders too.
Has anyone else seen this happen?”
My Tesla Robotaxi “safety” driver fell asleep
byu/ohmichael insanfrancisco
The driver eventually woke up after prompts from the vehicle, but it is pretty alarming to see someone like this while they’re ultimately responsible for what happens with the ride.
We won’t try to blame the camera person for the incident, because it clearly is not their fault. But it seems somewhat interesting that they did not try to wake the driver up and potentially contact Tesla immediately to alert them of the situation.
They should have probably left the vehicle immediately.
Tesla’s ride-hailing service in the Bay Area differs from the one that is currently active in Austin, Texas, due to local regulations. In Austin, there is no Safety Monitor in the driver’s seat unless the route requires the highway.
Tesla plans to remove the Safety Monitors in Austin by the end of the year.
Tesla has officially opened Robotaxi access to everyone and everyone, but there is one catch: you have to have an iPhone.
Tesla’s Robotaxi service in Austin and its ride-hailing service in the Bay Area were both officially launched to the public today, giving anyone using the iOS platform the ability to simply download the app and utilize it for a ride in either of those locations.
It has been in operation for several months: it launched in Austin in late June and in the Bay Area about a month later. In Austin, there is nobody in the driver’s seat unless the route takes you on the freeway.
In the Bay Area, there is someone in the driver’s seat at all times.
The platform was initially launched to those who were specifically invited to Austin to try it out.
Tesla confirms Robotaxi is heading to five new cities in the U.S.
Slowly, Tesla launched the platform to more people, hoping to expand the number of rides and get more valuable data on its performance in both regions to help local regulatory agencies relax some of the constraints that were placed on it.
Additionally, Tesla had its own in-house restrictions, like the presence of Safety Monitors in the vehicles. However, CEO Elon Musk has maintained that these monitors were present for safety reasons specifically, but revealed the plan was to remove them by the end of the year.
Now, Tesla is opening up Robotaxi to anyone who wants to try it, as many people reported today that they were able to access the app and immediately fetch a ride if they were in the area.
We also confirmed it ourselves, as it was shown that we could grab a ride in the Bay Area if we wanted to:
🚨 Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing Service in Austin and the Bay Area has opened up for anyone on iOS
Go download the app and, if you’re in the area, hail a ride from Robotaxi pic.twitter.com/1CgzG0xk1J
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 18, 2025
The launch of a more public Robotaxi network that allows anyone to access it seems to be a serious move of confidence by Tesla, as it is no longer confining the service to influencers who are handpicked by the company.
In the coming weeks, we expect Tesla to then rid these vehicles of the Safety Monitors as Musk predicted. If it can come through on that by the end of the year, the six-month period where Tesla went from launching Robotaxi to enabling driverless rides is incredibly impressive.
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Tesla analyst sees Full Self-Driving adoption rates skyrocketing: here’s why
“You’ll see increased adoption as people are exposed to it. I’ve been behind the wheel of several of these and the different iterations of FSD, and it is getting better and better. It’s something when people experience it, they will be much more comfortable utilizing FSD and paying for it.”
Tesla analyst Stephen Gengaro of Stifel sees Full Self-Driving adoption rates skyrocketing, and he believes more and more people will commit to paying for the full suite or the subscription service after they try it.
Full Self-Driving is Tesla’s Level 2 advanced driver assistance suite (ADAS), and is one of the most robust on the market. Over time, the suite gets better as the company accumulates data from every mile driven by its fleet of vehicles, which has swelled to over five million cars sold.
The suite features a variety of advanced driving techniques that many others cannot do. It is not your typical Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC) and Lane Keeping ADAS system. Instead, it can handle nearly every possible driving scenario out there.
It still requires the driver to pay attention and ultimately assume responsibility for the vehicle, but their hands are not required to be on the steering wheel.
It is overwhelmingly impressive, and as a personal user of the FSD suite on a daily basis, I have my complaints, but overall, there are very few things it does incorrectly.
Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.1.7 real-world drive and review
Gengaro, who increased his Tesla price target to $508 yesterday, said in an interview with CNBC that adoption rates of FSD will increase over the coming years as more people try it for themselves.
At first, it is tough to feel comfortable with your car literally driving you around. Then, it becomes second nature.
Gengaro said:
“You’ll see increased adoption as people are exposed to it. I’ve been behind the wheel of several of these and the different iterations of FSD, and it is getting better and better. It’s something when people experience it, they will be much more comfortable utilizing FSD and paying for it.”
Tesla Full Self-Driving take rates also have to increase as part of CEO Elon Musk’s recently approved compensation package, as one tranche requires ten million active subscriptions in order to win that portion of the package.
The company also said in the Q3 2025 Earnings Call in October that only 12 percent of the current ownership fleet are paid customers of Full Self-Driving, something the company wants to increase considerably moving forward.
Tesla ride-hailing Safety Monitor dozes off during Bay Area ride
Tesla opens Robotaxi access to everyone — but there’s one catch
