Tom Carter

Tom Carter is a reporter at Business Insider covering tech with a focus on electric vehicles, self-driving cars, and robotics. His work stands out for treating the EV market, autonomous driving, and artificial intelligence as one connected system, showing how shifts in technology and capital ripple across carmakers, tech giants, and the people who work for them. He combines internal documents, detailed sales data, and interviews with industry figures to explain why headline moments in the auto and tech worlds matter beyond a single product launch or quarterly report.

EV downturn, Tesla under pressure, and the shifting market

Carter’s recent coverage of the “EV winter” follows the slowdown in electric-car demand across major markets and explains why it is hitting Tesla harder than rivals. In that reporting he links falling deliveries, price cuts, and an aging product lineup with broader political and consumer backlash, drawing on sales figures and expert commentary to show how Tesla’s once unchallenged position is eroding. He also writes prescriptive analysis pieces, such as a story outlining three things Tesla needs to do to make a comeback, where he weaves together delivery numbers, product cycles, and outside voices like editors at Kelley Blue Book to map out realistic paths forward rather than repeating corporate messaging.

Beyond the flagship brand, Carter looks closely at how other automakers are struggling or adapting in the EV transition. In a piece on the Mazda chief executive’s view that Teslas are the only EVs “taking off” in America, he treats the quote as a window into how legacy automakers see their own stalled electric strategies and the gap they still need to close. His story on Lucid’s decision to cut 12% of its US workforce uses an internal memo to connect financial pressures, production plans, and workforce restructuring at a Tesla rival, making clear how hard it is to sustain a premium EV business when growth slows. Across these articles he returns to the same questions: which companies are truly building sustainable EV franchises, and how much pain will they endure in the process.

Carter often grounds strategic debates in what buyers actually face. His coverage of the Cybertruck’s pricing shows how far reality has drifted from Elon Musk’s original sub-$40,000 promise, noting that the cheapest version available is now around $100,000 and that planned cheaper variants have vanished from Tesla’s ordering page. By walking through archived website versions and current order options, he translates abstract pricing moves into simple buyer choices, highlighting the distance between marketing claims and market practice. He adds another layer of consumer perspective in a story about a driver who replaced a Tesla Model 3 with a BYD Seal because they wanted nothing to do with Musk, using that personal decision to illustrate how brand perception and geopolitics are starting to shape EV adoption.

Self-driving cars, safety expectations, and robotics

Self-driving technology is a central strand in Carter’s beat, and he treats it as a long, incremental process rather than a near-term inevitability. In one piece he reports on an autonomous-vehicle executive’s view that fully self-driving cars are still decades away, explaining that the limiting factor is the vast amount of data and localized driving knowledge needed for software to genuinely match human performance in varied real-world conditions. He uses that interview to challenge the idea of imminent “Level 5” autonomy, spelling out why cars that can operate anywhere, without human oversight, remain a distant goal rather than a product on the verge of release.

In another article he examines public attitudes toward self-driving safety, noting that many people say autonomous cars must be “better” than human drivers before they will accept them. By focusing on this expectation gap, he shows that technical progress alone is not enough; trust, regulation, and clear safety standards will determine how quickly autonomous features are adopted. These stories sit alongside his broader robotics and automation coverage, where the same themes recur: the need for real-world experience, clear benchmarks for safety, and honest discussion of what current systems can and cannot do.

Elon Musk’s wider empire, from Tesla to SpaceX and xAI

Carter frequently uses Elon Musk’s companies as a lens on the intersection of cars, space, and AI. In a long-form profile of Musk, he charts the entrepreneur’s path from the PayPal sale to the founding of SpaceX, the creation of Tesla, and the launch of OpenAI, setting out how Musk has positioned himself across multiple frontier technologies. That narrative frame—following one figure across several industries—echoes his day-to-day reporting, where the lines between automaking, rockets, and AI increasingly blur.

He has covered SpaceX’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial for its Starlink satellite internet service, pointing out that it was the first time any of Musk’s companies chose to advertise at the event and treating the spot as a sign of changing strategy around marketing and consumer outreach. In a separate memo-based story, he reports on SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI, publishing Musk’s internal message to staff and using it to show how the rocket company plans to fold an AI venture into its existing operations. These pieces fit alongside his analysis of how a hypothetical merger between SpaceX and Tesla could work, in which he examines what, if anything, a combined company would gain from uniting Musk’s energy, automotive, and space businesses.

AI disruption, creative work, and tech workforce memos

Carter’s focus on AI extends beyond software and into the lives of workers whose jobs are being transformed or displaced. In a feature on fears of AI taking jobs, he highlights artists in film, television, and gaming who say that entry-level and freelance roles are already being done by image-generation tools, making clear that the impact is not a distant worry but a current reality for people at the start of their careers. He lets these workers speak directly about lost opportunities and changing workflows, tying their stories back to the broader narrative of automation reshaping creative industries.

He brings the same attention to internal communications and staff impact in his coverage of layoffs at tech companies. In addition to Lucid’s cuts, he reports on Snap’s decision to lay off about 16% of its global workforce, publishing the memo from CEO Evan Spiegel that links the restructuring to “rapid advancements” in AI and a push for small, efficient squads. By reproducing and contextualizing these memos, he shows how executives frame painful decisions, how they justify them to employees, and how AI is being used as both a tool and a rationale for workforce change.

Across these beats—EVs, self-driving, Musk’s empire, and AI in the workplace—Carter’s reporting is marked by a consistent method. He brings together internal documents, market data, and voices from inside companies and affected communities, and he writes in clear, direct language that tracks consequences as closely as announcements. The result is coverage that helps readers understand not just what is happening in the auto and tech sectors, but why it is happening and who it affects.