A senior Tesla Inc. executive, who was the company’s main technical contact with U.S. safety investigators, has left for rival Waymo LLC, according to people familiar the decision.

Matthew Schwall, who had been the director of field performance engineering at Tesla, exited the company as the National Transportation Safety Board has been investigating multiple crashes involving the electric vehicles. Mr. Schwall’s exit coincides with Tesla’s announcement Friday that its engineering chief, Doug Field, was taking a leave of absence.

Mr. Schwall began at Waymo last Monday, where he joined the company’s safety team led by former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Deputy Administrator Ron Medford, according to a person familiar with the move. The former Tesla executive will work on a variety of self-driving car safety issues in his new role, the person said.

Mr. Schwall couldn’t be reached for comment, though a person familiar with his move said it was unrelated to issues Tesla is dealing with regarding Autopilot. Tesla didn’t respond to a request to comment. Waymo confirmed Mr. Schwall has begun working for the Alphabet Inc. unit.

The former Tesla executive joined the auto maker nearly four years ago. According to his LinkedIn biography, Mr. Schwall served as the “primary technical contact” at Tesla with safety regulation agencies including the NTSB and the NHTSA, the regulatory body that oversees the auto industry.