Jody Kerns, the Senior Assembly Manager at Tesla's Gigafactory in Texas (Gigafactory Texas), will be leaving the company to join Rivian, where he will take on the role of R2, the Chief Assembly Director at that company's factory located in Illinois (Normal).
This is already the second Cybercab project leader to leave Tesla this year. Cybercab, the person in charge of introducing new products, left the company in April, at a time when this car had not even carried any paid passengers yet.
From Cybercab to R2
Kerns announced this change this week on LinkedIn, and thanked the Tesla team for everything they have done "from the WEOL project to the release of Cyber Cab".
His personal profile indicates that he joined Tesla in January 2024 as a Terminal Offline Manager and took over the Cybercab final assembly work at the Austin factory in February 2026. It was also in the same month that Tesla launched its first batch of Cybercab models without steering wheels, so he was involved in the entire process from final assembly to the rollout of commercial services.
At Rivian, he will be responsible for similar tasks related to R2. He describes his goal as transforming R2 into "the best electric SUV on the market."
Kerns does not come from a Silicon Valley background. He worked at Volkswagen of America for 14 years, with his final position being Director of Final Assembly from 2021 to 2024. His records indicate that he managed approximately 1,200 people at that time and integrated ID.4 into a production line that was already producing two other car models. This factory is located in Chattanooga. Prior to that, he also worked in Toyota's painting workshop for four years.
Therefore, Rivian has found a person who has not only implemented the introduction of new electric vehicles into an operating factory but also launched completely new car models from scratch. This is precisely the problem that R2 is facing.
The second person, Cybercab, has left his position.
The departure of Kerns followed closely after that of Michael So. So served as the person in charge of introducing new products at Tesla from September 2024 to April 2026. So became the first employee of Giga Texas in 2021, helping to launch Model Y and Cybertruck at the local factory, and identified the "unboxed" manufacturing process, line control braking, and butterfly-wing doors of Cybercab as projects he was involved in launching.
He left his job in May to take on the role of Vice President of Product Engineering at Aalo Atomics, a startup company focused on nuclear reactors in Austin. So wrote under a post on Kerns that he “would not want to launch Cybercab with anyone else.”
For Tesla, this timing is not ideal. Cybercab Commercial passenger service was launched in Austin on September 3rd, and a week later, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a special order to Tesla, requiring it to prove under oath that a car without a steering wheel or brake pedals meets federal safety standards. NHTSA Currently, it is estimated that the Robotaxi fleet for 2026 – including Model Y and Cybercab – will consist of about 1,000 vehicles.
On the other hand, Rivian is currently in a critical phase that will determine its future. R2 began deliveries at the Normal factory on June 9th, and Rivian produced 19,751 vehicles in the third quarter, while maintaining its delivery target for 2026 of 65,000 to 70,000 vehicles. Rivian has already raised 1.5 billion dollars, part of which is intended to reduce risks during this critical phase.
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