California regulator claims Tesla falsely advertised Autopilot, Full Self-Driving

By David Shepardson and Jonathan Stempel

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tesla Inc, the electrical automotive firm run by billionaire Elon Musk, has been accused by a California state transportation regulator of falsely promoting its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving options as offering autonomous car management.

In complaints filed with the state Workplace of Administrative Hearings, California’s Division of Motor Automobiles (DMV) mentioned Tesla misled potential prospects with promoting that overstated how effectively its superior driver help programs (ADAS) labored.

Tesla “made or disseminated statements which can be unfaithful or deceptive, and never primarily based on info,” the DMV mentioned in complaints dated July 28 and which it made public on Friday.

Automobiles geared up with Autopilot and Full Self-Driving expertise “couldn’t on the time of these commercials, and can’t now, function as autonomous autos,” the DMV added.

The DMV is looking for cures that might embody suspending Tesla’s license to promote autos in California and requiring the corporate to make restitution to drivers.

Tesla, which has disbanded its media relations division, didn’t instantly reply to emailed requests for remark.

The Los Angeles Occasions earlier reported the DMV complaints.

Tesla has mentioned Autopilot “allows your automotive to steer, speed up and brake mechanically inside its lane,” whereas Full-Self Driving additionally allows autos to obey site visitors alerts and make lane adjustments.

In accordance with Tesla’s web site, each applied sciences “require energetic driver supervision,” with a “absolutely attentive” driver whose arms are on the wheel, “and don’t make the car autonomous.”

However the DMV mentioned Tesla’s disclaimer “contradicts the unique unfaithful or deceptive labels and claims, which is deceptive, and doesn’t treatment the violation.”

California is Tesla’s largest U.S. market. The corporate offered 121,000 autos there in 2021, out of an estimated 352,000 offered nationwide.

Since 2016, the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) has opened 38 particular investigations of crashes involving Tesla autos the place ADAS programs have been suspected of getting used. Nineteen deaths have been reported from these crashes, together with a motorcyclist killed final month in Utah.

NHTSA had no speedy touch upon the DMV complaints.

Nationwide Transportation Security Board chair Jennifer Homendy in a Reuters interview final 12 months mentioned “there may be zero comparability” between Tesla’s Autopilot and the software utilized in aviation.

“Some producers are going to do what they need to do to promote a automotive and it is up the federal government to rein that in,” she mentioned.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington, D.C. and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Enhancing by Josie Kao)