Tesla has removed wording about having a “majority-minority” workforce in its latest 10-K filing, following recent statements from CEO Elon Musk opposing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives—and a history of allegations of racial discrimination at the automaker’s factories.
In Tesla’s 10-K filing released on Monday, the automaker has changed some of the wording alluding to DEI measures at the company, instead adding a few new paragraphs at the end. The omitted wording from the prior year’s annual report, which can be found near the end of the Item 1, Business section of Tesla’s 10-K filing last year, reads as follows:
“With a majority-minority workforce, empowering our employee resource groups to take charge in driving initiatives that attract, develop and retain our passionate workforce is vital to our continued success.”
Both this and last year’s filings include the same opening line for the section:
“At Tesla, our employees show up passionate about making a difference in the world and for each other.”
However, instead of the “minority-majority” workforce phrasing included in last year’s filing, the 10-K filed this week includes the following language:
“We remain unwavering in our demand that our factories, offices, stores and service centers are places where our employees feel respected and appreciated. Our policies are designed to promote fairness and respect for everyone. We hire, evaluate and promote employees based on their skills and performance. Everyone is expected to be trustworthy, demonstrate excellence in their performance and collaborate with others. With this in mind, we will not tolerate certain behaviors. These include harassment, retaliation, violence, intimidation and discrimination of any kind on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability or veteran status.”
The filing goes on to mention Tesla’s anti-harassment training and leadership development programs, encouraging employees to speak up about misconduct by contacting the company integrity line, human resources, and managers, or by submitting concerns through the Take Charge process.
You can see Tesla’s full 10-K filing for the fiscal year 2023 here, along with its 10-K released a year ago for the fiscal year 2022 here. Although the “majority-minority” workplace phrasing has been removed from the 10-K filing, Tesla still says this on its website, adding that underrepresented groups represent 67 percent of the company’s U.S. workforce.
Musk and Tesla have also continually emphasized their opposition to racism in the workplace in response to allegations of discrimination over the years. Musk has instead recently made several statements on X calling DEI initiatives racist, even noting in December that he thinks “DEI must DIE.”
“The point was to end discrimination, not replace it with different discrimination,” Musk added.
“Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” are propaganda words for racism, sexism and other -isms.
This is just as morally wrong as any other racism and sexism. Changing the target class doesn’t make it right!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2023
Earlier this month, Musk reiterated his opposition to these programs, saying that “DEI is just another word for racism.”
Discrimination on the basis of race, which DEI does, is literally the definition of racism
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 3, 2024
Musk has also opposed what he terms the “woke mind virus,” which he has criticized several times over the past few years.
Yeah, we have a lot to fix. The Internet is infested with the woke mind virus.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 11, 2024
Tesla has also faced multiple court cases alleging racial discrimination in the past, each of which the company and Musk have denied.
One such case included the high-profile trial of former contracted elevator operator Owen Diaz, who was denied his appeal by a judge in October for a third re-trial after being awarded $137 million by a jury in 2021. Diaz had worked at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, in 2015, and a second jury last April awarded him a $3.2 million verdict after he rejected a lowered settlement of $15 million from the first trial.
In a lawsuit in California in 2022, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) accused Tesla of operating a “racially segregated” workplace at the Fremont factory, to which the automaker responded by denying the claims and filing a formal complaint against the agency.
Earlier this month, Musk paid a visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and to a symposium opposing the rise of anti-semitism organized by the European Jewish Association (EJA), after X faced advertising boycotts and heavy criticism when Musk liked and replied to an anti-semitic post in November.
“I’m sorry for that post. It was foolish of me,” Musk said in an interview following the incident. “Of my 30,000 posts, it might literally be the worst and dumbest post I’ve ever done. I think over time it’ll be obvious that I’m far from anti-semitic.”
Tesla accused of race-based discrimination, retaliation by former HR manager
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.
Elon Musk
Tesla removes Autopilot as standard, receives criticism online
The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders.
Tesla removed its basic Autopilot package as a standard feature in the United States. The move leaves only Traffic Aware Cruise Control as standard equipment on new Tesla orders, and shifts the company’s strategy towards paid Full Self-Driving subscriptions.
Tesla removes Autopilot
As per observations from the electric vehicle community on social media, Tesla no longer lists Autopilot as standard in its vehicles in the U.S. This suggests that features such as lane-centering and Autosteer have been removed as standard equipment. Previously, most Tesla vehicles came with Autopilot by default, which offers Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer.
The change resulted in backlash from some Tesla owners and EV observers, particularly as competing automakers, including mainstream players like Toyota, offer features like lane-centering as standard on many models, including budget vehicles.
That being said, the removal of Autopilot suggests that Tesla is concentrating its autonomy roadmap around FSD subscriptions rather than bundled driver-assistance features. It would be interesting to see how Tesla manages its vehicles’ standard safety features, as it seems out of character for Tesla to make its cars less safe over time.
Musk announces FSD price increases
Following the Autopilot changes, Elon Musk stated on X that Tesla is planning to raise subscription prices for FSD as its capabilities improve. In a post on X, Musk stated that the current $99-per-month price for supervised FSD would increase over time, especially as the system itself becomes more robust.
“I should also mention that the $99/month for supervised FSD will rise as FSD’s capabilities improve. The massive value jump is when you can be on your phone or sleeping for the entire ride (Unsupervised FSD),” Musk wrote.
At the time of his recent post, Tesla still offers FSD as a one-time purchase for $8,000, but Elon Musk has confirmed that this option will be discontinued on February 14, leaving subscriptions as the only way to access the system.
Tesla has initiated Cybertruck deliveries in a new region for the first time, as the all-electric pickup has officially made its way to the United Arab Emirates, marking the newest territory to receive the polarizing truck.
Tesla launched orders for the Cybertruck in the Middle East back in September 2025, just months after the company confirmed that it planned to launch the pickup in the region, which happened in April.
I took a Tesla Cybertruck weekend Demo Drive – Here’s what I learned
By early October, Tesla launched the Cybertruck configurator in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, with pricing starting at around AED 404,900, or about $110,000 for the Dual Motor configuration.
This decision positioned the Gulf states as key early international markets, and Tesla was hoping to get the Cybertruck outside of North America for the first time, as it has still been tough to launch in other popular EV markets, like Europe and Asia.
By late 2025, Tesla had pushed delivery timelines slightly and aimed for an early 2026 delivery launch in the Middle East. The first official customer deliveries started this month, and a notable handover event occurred in Dubai’s Al Marmoom desert area, featuring a light and fire show.
Around 63 Cybertrucks made their way to customers during the event:
First @cybertruck deliveries in the UAE 🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/sN2rAxppUA
— Tesla Europe & Middle East (@teslaeurope) January 22, 2026
As of this month, the Cybertruck still remains available for configuration on Tesla’s websites for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Middle Eastern countries like Jordan and Israel. Deliveries are rolling out progressively, with the UAE leading as the first to see hands-on customer events.
In other markets, most notably Europe, there are still plenty of regulatory hurdles that Tesla is hoping to work through, but they may never be resolved. The issues come from the unique design features that conflict with the European Union’s (EU) stringent safety standards.
These standards include pedestrian protection regulations, which require vehicles to minimize injury risks in collisions. However, the Cybertruck features sharp edges and an ultra-hard stainless steel exoskeleton, and its rigid structure is seen as non-compliant with the EU’s list of preferred designs.
The vehicle’s gross weight is also above the 3.5-tonne threshold for standard vehicles, which has prompted Tesla to consider a more compact design. However, the company’s focus on autonomy and Robotaxi has likely pushed that out of the realm of possibility.
For now, Tesla will work with the governments that want it to succeed in their region, and the Middle East has been a great partner to the company with the launch of the Cybertruck.
Tesla has officially launched public Robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, without a Safety Monitor in the vehicle, marking the first time the company has removed anyone from the vehicle other than the rider.
The Safety Monitor has been present in Tesla Robotaxis in Austin since its launch last June, maintaining safety for passengers and other vehicles, and was placed in the passenger’s seat.
Tesla planned to remove the Safety Monitor at the end of 2025, but it was not quite ready to do so. Now, in January, riders are officially reporting that they are able to hail a ride from a Model Y Robotaxi without anyone in the vehicle:
I am in a robotaxi without safety monitor pic.twitter.com/fzHu385oIb
— TSLA99T (@Tsla99T) January 22, 2026
Tesla started testing this internally late last year and had several employees show that they were riding in the vehicle without anyone else there to intervene in case of an emergency.
Tesla has now expanded that program to the public. It is not active in the entire fleet, but there are a “few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors,” Ashok Elluswamy said:
Robotaxi rides without any safety monitors are now publicly available in Austin.
Starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors, and the ratio will increase over time. https://t.co/ShMpZjefwB
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) January 22, 2026
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
The Robotaxi program also operates in the California Bay Area, where the fleet is much larger, but Safety Monitors are placed in the driver’s seat and utilize Full Self-Driving, so it is essentially the same as an Uber driver using a Tesla with FSD.
In Austin, the removal of Safety Monitors marks a substantial achievement for Tesla moving forward. Now that it has enough confidence to remove Safety Monitors from Robotaxis altogether, there are nearly unlimited options for the company in terms of expansion.
While it is hoping to launch the ride-hailing service in more cities across the U.S. this year, this is a much larger development than expansion, at least for now, as it is the first time it is performing driverless rides in Robotaxi anywhere in the world for the public to enjoy.
Tesla removes Autopilot as standard, receives criticism online
Tesla begins Cybertruck deliveries in a new region for the first time
