California regulators, the California Department of Motor vehicles are going to target Tesla’s license to sell cars in the state. It is after the company was accused of deceptive business with its marketing tactics to call itself full self-driving capability.
It is known that the marketing claim of Tesla is stated to be ‘autopilot’. Priced at $12,000, the autopilot feature indicates that the vehicle can be operated autonomously. “All you will need to do is get in and tell your car where to go,” one Tesla advertisement cited in the complaint read. “If you don’t say anything, your car will look at your calendar and take you there as the assumed destination. Your Tesla will figure out the optimal route, navigating urban streets, complex intersections, and freeways. To your Destination – When you arrive at your destination, simply step out at the entrance and your car will enter park seek mode, automatically search for a spot, and park itself. A tap on your phone summons it back to you.”
However, the company’s vehicle “could not at the time of those advertisements, and cannot now” operate without a driver. This means that the marketing violates California law regarding advertisements. Having untrue claims in the marketing is not compiling with the rules.
Claims
“Respondent made or disseminated statements that are untrue or misleading, and not based on facts, in advertising vehicles as equipped, or potentially equipped, with advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) features,” the pair of complaints against Tesla’s dealership and manufacturing divisions read. Furthermore, the penalty for the violations may include suspension or revocation of the company’s license to sell cars in the state, as well as paying restitution to customers who were deceived by the marketing, according to the complaint.
“The undersigned prays that the Department of Motor Vehicles takes such action against the license of the Respondent as is warranted by the facts of this case,” the complaint, signed by regulator Ailene Short, the chief of the industry services branch of the DMV’s occupational licensing division, read.
Elon Musk said in a June interview that creating reliable self-driving technology is “essential” to the financial success of the company. “The overwhelming focus is on solving full self-driving,” Musk said in an interview with the YouTube channel “Tesla Owners Silicon Valley,” published Tuesday. “That’s essential. It’s really the difference between Tesla being worth a lot of money or worth basically zero.” However, the billionaire has been making big promises about self-driving features for years. Regardless of the customer complaints, it is true that Teslas accounted for 273 of nearly 400 US crashes involving driver-assist systems in the last year.
