Tesla defends autopilot promise with freedom of speech

2023-12-13 10:59:00

Possible ban on misleading advertising? Tesla defends autopilot promise with freedom of speech

Tesla boss Elon Musk has had to defend his company’s advertising promises for years – and is always looking for new ways to do so.

© Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images / AFP

Tesla’s names for its assistance systems have been criticized for years – because the terms “Autopilot” and “Full Self Driving” suggest to customers that they don’t have to pay attention in traffic. This can lead to accidents. The US DMV authority wants to take action against it – and Tesla sees itself as being in line with common law.

Tesla has been calling it since 2014 Assistance systems in his cars “Autopilot”. In 2016, the expansion called “Full Self Driving” (in Germany “full potential for autonomous driving”) was added. Both product names are repeatedly criticized. The accusation: Both “Autopilot” and “Full Self Driving” would suggest through their names that you no longer have to pay attention to the road while behind the wheel of a Tesla with this software.

But even if this may actually correspond to Tesla boss Elon Musk’s ideal, the reality is different. Accidents occur again and again that are associated with one of the two systems. In some cases, incorrect decisions made by the driving computer can be specifically reproduced. In January, test drivers for the “New York Times Magazine” uncovered glaring defects in a long series of tests.

Road traffic authority is suing against false Tesla promises

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is now accusing the company of false advertising, which could have serious consequences for the electric car manufacturer. As the “Los Angeles Times” reports, in the worst case scenario, Tesla faces the revocation of its Californian manufacturer’s license, a local sales ban and high payments to customers and victims.

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Against this background, Tesla’s current defense strategy seems a bit strange. Because instead of providing valid arguments as to why the systems can be called what they are called, the company refers to the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. Accordingly, Tesla believes that the DMV’s lawsuit is violating the constitutional right to freedom of expression.

In a letter it says that the authority has been aware since 2014 and 2016 that Tesla was using the terms “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving Capability”. The statement continued: “The DMV chose not to take any action against Tesla or otherwise notify Tesla that its advertising or use of these brand names was or may be problematic.” Tesla understood this to be “tacit approval” and is now wondering about the DMV’s actions.

According to the letter, the company sees a ban as an unlawful restriction on “constitutionally protected speech that is truthful and not misleading.”

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Dispute with the DMV is not Tesla’s only construction site

Tesla’s letter refers to a lawsuit that the DMV filed in July 2022 after an investigation had been initiated a year earlier. The transport authority has only now submitted an application to court after the case was thoroughly examined internally. The authority is also suing against statements made by the company in connection with the systems, such as that “the system is designed to drive longer or shorter distances independently without the driver having to intervene” – that’s what it currently says the Tesla website.

This is understandably unusual for the car manufacturer: unlike most of Musk’s companies, which are known for their quick, sometimes hasty actions, the authorities’ wheels grind more slowly.

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It will apparently soon become clear whether it is enough to add information to the descriptions of “Autopilot” and “Full Self Driving” on the product pages and in the vehicle that it is not yet possible to drive fully autonomously. According to Reuters, the lawsuit says that in the eyes of the authority, this is inadequate.

The dispute with the registration office is not the only battle that Tesla currently has to fight in court. The US Federal Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is also investigating the software’s problems in several cases, including fatal incidents and collisions with police and ambulances.

Sources: “Los Angeles Times”, “New York Times Magazine”, Tesla, Reuters