He has also repeatedly called out EVS as being unreliable and "not going very far." Before he became buddies with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, he ridiculed him and his businesses. Related: Costco has a massive labor problem nobody is talking about When Elon Musk came to the White House asking me for help on all of his many subsidized projects,

The electric-vehicle maker has an aging lineup and slumping sales, but its CEO has shifted his focus to robotaxis and robots.

The company has devoted resources to autonomous driving rather than developing new models to attract car buyers.