As NHTSA Opens Tesla FSD Investigation, Gary Black Says Elon Musk's EV Giant Needs PR Staff: 'For Years I've Argued…'

As the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an investigation into traffic violations committed by Tesla Inc.'s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, Future Fund LLC's managing director, Gary Black, thinks the EV giant needs better PR.

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Tesla Needs PR Staff To ‘Fight Off' Regulation

Taking to the social media platform X on Thursday, Black outlined the need for Tesla to employ a PR staff. "For years I've argued $TSLA needs a 1-2 person PR staff to fight off regulatory efforts like this," the investor said.

He added that it was obvious that President Donald Trump's pick to lead the NHTSA, Jonathan Morrison, would want to "make a name for himself with this initiative."

It's worth noting that Morrison had earlier called for tougher oversight on the autonomous driving industry in the U.S. "NHTSA cannot sit back and wait for problems to arise with such developing technologies, but must demonstrate strong leadership," he had said.

Elon Musk's New Pay Package

The news comes as Tesla CEO Elon Musk could reportedly still pocket billions of dollars even if the EV giant fails to reach the goals stipulated in the newly unveiled compensation package for Musk, which could make him the world's first trillionaire. At least two milestones within the package relate to autonomous driving i.e. 10 million active FSD subscriptions as well as 1 million Robotaxis in operation. Interestingly, Tesla recently also revised the meaning of the FSD system.

Affordable Models Invite Criticism

Meanwhile, Tesla's affordable Model Y and Model 3 trim levels invited mixed reactions from analysts, with Tesla bull Dan Ives expressing disappointment at the EV giant pricing the trim levels not too far from the already available variants.

Gerber Kawasaki's co-founder Ross Gerber also suggested that Tesla could've instead put a steering wheel in the Cybercab and released an affordable two-door model in the lineup, but added that Musk killed the idea.

Tesla scores well on Momentum and Growth metrics, while boasting satisfactory Quality, but poor Value. Tesla also offers a favorable price trend in the Short, Medium and Long term. For more such insights, sign up for Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings today!

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