California DMV accuses Tesla of making false claims about Autopilot and Full-Self Driving

Photo by Sean O’Kane / The Verge

The Los Angeles Times reported that the California Department of Motor Vehicles had accused the company of false advertising. On July 28th, the agency filed two complaints with the Office of Administrative Hearings, accusing the company of making false or misleading claims.

The name of the technology and the language used to describe it wrongly imply that cars equipped with the technology can operate autonomously, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. According to the information on the Autopilot page, the system is designed to be able to conduct short and long distance trips with no action needed by the person in the driver's seat.

The autopilot feature in all of the cars of the company comes with features like traffic-awareness and autosteer. Adding auto-parking, auto lane changing, the ability for drivers to summon a vehicle from a parking space to where they are standing, and access to a program to test upcoming features are all extras that drivers have to pay more for. Drivers still need to pay attention to the road and keep their hands on the wheel despite the fact that cars aren't fully self-sufficient.

The labels and descriptions for the vehicles that will operate as an autopilot and full self- driving capability are different from simply identifying a product or brand name. These advertisements are not legit.

The Department of Motor Vehicles doesn't think it's enough to reverse its alleged misleading statements. The agency may not go as far as suspending the licenses ofTesla for producing and selling cars in California. The agency stated in a statement to the Los Angeles Times that it would require the company to give adequate warnings about the limitations of the technology. The agency can take action without a hearing if it doesn't respond to the complaint by the 15th.

The German government asked the company to stop using the term "Autopilot" in 2016 due to concerns that it could suggest that its vehicles are fully autonomously piloted. In August of last year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was asked to investigate the way in which the company advertises its vehicles.

In June, the NHTSA released its first report detailing crashes involving vehicles with advanced driver-assist systems. From July 20th, 2021 to May 21st, 2022, it found that the majority of the crashes were related to driver assist technology. The NHTSA is investigating a number of crashes involving cars with autopilot and emergency vehicles. The NHTSA is looking into a fatal accident in which aTesla driver using autopilot hit and killed a motorcyclist, an incident that makes up one of 39 ongoing investigations involving the company's cars.