Tesla Reportedly Under Criminal Investigation for Claiming Its Cars Can Drive Themselves

The Justice Department is looking into the marketing of the autopilot system by the company.

More than a dozen crashes involving the notorious driver assistance feature were investigated by the department last year.

While we've heard of other regulators investigating the company over the same issue, a criminal probe could mean an even higher level of scrutiny.

Take the Wheel

The news also comes a week after Musk announced during an earnings call that an upcoming version of the company's dubiously-named "Full Self- Driving" feature would allow owners to drive "to your work, your friend's house, to the grocery store without you touching the wheel

Musk said that it won't have regulatory approval at that time and that he hopes to convince regulators that it's safe.

It seems like the DOJ investigation is looking at autopilot rather than full self- driving, but it's clear that this probe is a threat.

The U.S. is looking into self-driving claims byTesla.

There is overwhelming majority of automated driving deaths caused by the cars.