Tesla faces lawsuit over false advertising claims
The case centers on the company's marketing of its 'Autopilot' and 'Full Self-Driving Capability' features, which, despite their names, do not enable fully autonomous driving.
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American multinational automotive and clean energy company Tesla is facing a false advertising lawsuit filed by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The case centers on the company's marketing of its 'Autopilot' and 'Full Self-Driving Capability' features, which, despite their names, do not enable fully autonomous driving.
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As a result of the lawsuit, the California DMV is reportedly seeking to suspend Tesla’s dealer license for at least one month. Tesla has previously contested the allegations, arguing that its repeated warnings urging drivers to remain attentive at all times are sufficient to address any potential for misleading interpretations of its 'Autopilot' and 'Full Self-Driving' branding.
In court documents, attorneys for the state of California identified four product description phrases on Tesla’s website that they believe are misleading.
Phrases such as “Autopilot,” “Full Self-Driving Capability,” and the claim that 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” were cited by the state as examples of misleading representations made by the company.
In 2020, a German court banned Tesla from using the term “Autopilot” in its marketing within the country. More recently, in the spring of this year, U.K. authorities barred the company from offering its Full Self-Driving system in the British market.
