Former Tesla Semi program head joins automation firm founded by Model 3 production engineer

Former Tesla President of Heavy Duty Truck Jerome Guillen has found his new calling as an “Investor, Advisor” at Los Gatos, California-based Full Speed Automation, after leaving the electric automaker last Summer.

In June 2021, Tesla announced the departure of Guillen in an 8-K filing with the SEC. “As of June 3, 2021, Jerome Guillen, President, Tesla Heavy Trucking, of Tesla, Inc. (“Tesla”), departed Tesla. We thank him for his main contributions and wish him well in his future career,” Tesla said in the filing.

Prior to his exit, Guillen offloaded over $6 million in Tesla shares.

Guillen was employed by Tesla for five-and-a-half years, according to his LinkedIn page, which indicated he had found a new position. Prior to being named Tesla’s President of Heavy Duty Trucking, where he oversaw the Semi program, Guillen also was President of Automotive, Vice President of Trucks and Programs, Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Service, Model S Program Director, and Acting VP of Vehicle Engineering.

Prior to Tesla, Guillen worked for Daimler as Director of Business Innovation.

“I am driven to generate outstanding impact for the organizations I am associated with,” Guillen writes in his LinkedIn biography. “I have worked in several areas: growth, innovation, product development, engineering, sales, operations, service, strategy, and cost management. I have demonstrated world-class achievements in these areas for Tesla, Daimler, and McKinsey, while working directly for the most inspiring and demanding leaders.”

Full Speed Automation announced Guillen’s arrival in January, according to a post on its page.

The company describes itself as an automation company that believes “it is time for manufacturing to have access to modern software practices and to stop depending on expensive and time-consuming software developments.” Founded by Luc Leroy and Hugues Gontier, Leroy led the engineering team at Tesla during the “production hell” phase of the Model 3 ramp. Additionally, Full Speed’s website says he “developed the team and set up the new controls and software architectures for Gigafactory Shanghai, battery cells, and Model Y production lines.”