Billionaire sociopath Elon Musk, fresh off of backing away from his "deal" to buy Twitter, has another legal problem to deal with. The California Department of Motor Vehicles filed a complaint alleging that Tesla made misrepresentations to the public in its advertising claims that its cars could be equipped with advanced driver assistance system features. CNN reports:
"The Tesla (TSLA) advertisements ran in marketing materials on the company’s website 'on at least five dates' between May 2021 and July 2022, the complaint said.
They included descriptions such as 'Autopilot' and 'Full Self-Driving Capability' and used such wording as 'All you will need to do is get in and tell your car where to go…Your Tesla will figure out the optimal route, navigating urban streets, complex intersections and freeways,' the suit said.
Another claim that the California DMV alleged was misleading said, 'The system is designed to be able to conduct short and long-distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat.'
'These advertisements are a deceptive practice' under California’s Civil Code, the DMV complaint said." (our emphasis)
With billions to pay lawyers until doomsday, Musk is more worried about the publicity surrounding the increasing problems with his cars, and this latest exposure won't help sales in all likelihood. Since Tesla is Musk's most important, core investment, he may want to eschew publicity stunts and acquisition fishing, and be more, heh heh, "hands on" at Tesla which is showing signs of being on autopilot.
(photo: Demonstrating the way Tesla's autopilot decides on the car's direction)
