Feds open legal investigation into Tesla Autopilot claims

Tesla’s controversial Autopilot driver help may need simply gotten much more controversial. In accordance with Reuters, the corporate has been beneath federal legal investigation since 2021 for deceptive folks about Autopilot’s capabilities. It is the most recent in a string of state and federal investigations, coming at a time when the automaker is eradicating extra sensors from the vehicles whereas rising the worth of its “full self-driving” (FSD) characteristic.

The security of Tesla’s electrical autos has been repeatedly extolled by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who claimed his EVs are the most secure vehicles on sale. Nevertheless, these claims have been challenged by regulators such because the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration in addition to by collated crash knowledge.

Now, Reuters stories that “Justice Division prosecutors in Washington and San Francisco are inspecting whether or not Tesla misled customers, buyers and regulators by making unsupported claims about its driver help expertise’s capabilities,” the sources stated.

Though Tesla’s web site states that Autopilot requires energetic supervision and isn’t autonomous, it additionally includes a video that claims, “The particular person within the driver’s seat is simply there for authorized causes. He isn’t doing something. The automotive is driving itself,” and Musk has repeatedly been interviewed from the motive force’s seat of a Tesla hands-free.

Whether or not the Division of Justice’s investigation will end in legal prosecutions is unknown.

It is but another Autopilot-related headache for Tesla. In August, we discovered that NHTSA is investigating whether or not Autopilot can see motorcyclists. The investigation got here after a pair of deadly incidents when Tesla drivers hit and killed riders whereas utilizing the help mode. A separate NHTSA investigation is underway after no less than 11 incidents when Teslas working beneath Autopilot have hit emergency autos, and a 3rd seeks to find out if the elimination of forward-looking radar sensors from the EVs is the reason for a whole lot of phantom braking occasions.

If that wasn’t sufficient, California’s Division of Motor Autos has additionally filed complaints with the state’s Workplace of Administrative Hearings. As with the DoJ investigation, the California DMV can be upset with Tesla’s deceptive statements over its “FSD” characteristic, which it says are “unfaithful or deceptive, and never primarily based on details.”