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Tesla chief information officer Nagesh Saldi is now leaving the company less than a week before it's supposed to unveil its robotaxi.

Peace Out

One of Tesla's long-serving executives is abandoning ship.

As Bloomberg reports, Tesla employees were informed that chief information officer Nagesh Saldi, who has held his position for six years, is leaving the automaker.

The news comes less than a week before Tesla is reportedly set to unveil a long-rumored "Cybercab" prototype at its (rescheduled) robotaxi event in Los Angeles, an event that many hope will answer major questions about the company's risky pivot to operating a driverless taxi service.

Saldi joined Tesla from the computing giant HP in 2012. After a major restructuring at the company in 2018, he was promoted to CIO, a role that is typically responsible for an organization's information and computer technologies.

As CIO, Saldi reported directly to Musk. One of the latest major projects he was involved in was the expansion of Tesla's data centers in New York and Texas, according to Bloomberg, which are part of the automaker's AI infrastructure to develop its autonomous driving tech, including its Full Self-Driving driver assistance system.

Why Saldi left, however — and whether it was of his own accord or by being fired by his boss Elon Musk — is unclear. Nevertheless, the timing of the move will invite additional scrutiny into the state of the company's leadership, as the ranks of its c-suite dwindle.

Management Massacre

Saldi's departure adds to an alarming number of top execs who have left Tesla this year.

Three departed in the course of a tumultuous two weeks in April: senior vice president Drew Baglino, vice president of public policy Rohan Patel, and vice president of investor relations Martin Viecha, who announced his departure during an earnings call.

The next month, head of human resources Allie Arabalo also left, soon followed by Tesla's head of product launches Rich Otto, who publicly trashed Musk's leadership for the brutal layoffs he carried out.

As it stands, Tesla officially lists just three executives: CEO Elon Musk, chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja, and senior vice president of automotive Tom Zhu. For a company with over 100,000 employees, that's strikingly few leaders.

All the CEO's Men

The seeming leadership crisis comes at what could be a pivotal moment for the company. Sales have slowed, but Musk has ramped up his commitment to launching a robotaxi service.

This is despite many believing that Tesla's autonomous driving tech isn't advanced and reliable enough for the job, as evidenced by the controversies surrounding Full Self-Driving. The challenge is only heightened by the hurdle of rolling out an entirely new vehicle to serve as the taxis.

Good thing, then, that Musk has surrounded himself with plenty of people to advise him. Right?

More on Tesla: Tesla Won't Have Much to Show at "Light on Details" Robotaxi Event, Investor Warns

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Top Tesla Exec Abandons Ship Just Days Before Major "Robotaxi" Event

Researchers developed a implantable device that can detect the first signs of an opioid overdose and then rapidly inject naloxone.

When a person overdoses on opioids, their life can hang in the balance unless someone quickly injects them with an effective antidote like the life-saving medication naloxone.

But sometimes, people don't have access to naloxone, most commonly known as Narcan, or they don't get it soon enough, a scenario that has prompted researchers to develop a clever implantable device that can detect the first signs of an overdose and then rapidly infuse naloxone into the bloodstream.

As detailed in a paper published in the journal Device, the researchers demonstrated the device's effectiveness in a series of preclinical trials, detecting and reversing opioid overdoses in 24 out of 25 pigs.

If it makes the huge leap from the lab to becoming a viable commercial product, the implant could make a sizable dent in the more than 100,000 deaths related to drug overdoses in the US in 2022.

"In overdose cases where there is a bystander nearby, that individual can be rescued through either intramuscular or intranasal administration of naloxone, but you need that bystander," said Giovanni Traverso, the study's principal researcher and a biomedical expert at MIT, in a statement about the research. "We wanted to find a way for this to be done in an autonomous fashion."

The device, small enough to be slipped under the skin, consists of sensors that track vital signs, a wirelessly rechargeable battery, and a reservoir for medication.

If a person starts exhibiting signs of an overdose, algorithms analyzing data from the sensors send an alert to the person's smartphone. If they don't cancel the alert, the implanted device shoots an infusion of naloxone into their tissue, acting in a "closed-loop" fashion, meaning that it can deliver the drug by itself.

"Beyond the closed loop, the device can also serve as an early detection or warning system that can help alert others — whether it be loved ones, healthcare professionals or emergency services — to the side of the person so that they can help intervene as well," Traverso explained in the statement.

The study's writers think people who have previously overdosed or are at high risk are the ideal patients for these implants.

They are now attempting to further optimize and miniaturize the device before testing it out on human subjects.

"This is only the first lab-based prototype, but even at this stage we’re seeing that this device has a lot of potential to help protect high-risk populations from what otherwise could be a lethal overdose," said Traverso.

More on opioids: Doctors Are Getting Ready to Give Patients a Vaccine That Blocks Fentanyl's Effects

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Implantable Device Can Detect and Reverse Opioid Overdose