Tesla sues Calif. DMV after agency said the ‘self-driving’ cars don’t actually drive themselves
Elon Musk’s Tesla is suing the California Department of Motor Vehicles in an attempt to win back the right to use the term “Autopilot” in advertising its line of cars.
In a complaint filed Feb. 13, the electric vehicle giant claims the department called Tesla a “false advertiser” “wrongly and baselessly,” and claims the department failed to effectively prove that customers were led to believe the vehicles could be used without human supervision.
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Last year, a judge at the California Office of Administrative Hearings ruled that the company engaged in deceptive marketing by describing its fleet’s driver assistance systems as “autopilot” modes. The court argued that Tesla’s Autopilot and “full self-driving capability” (FSD) did not meet the criteria for autonomous driving required under the law. NHTSA Automation Levels system – features are classified by NHTSA as Level 2 automation, where Level 5 is a fully autonomous vehicle. The ruling claims that features must be at least level 3 to be described as “autonomous driving.”
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By using such terms, Tesla misled drivers and posed a risk to the consumer, the ruling said. Tesla has faced numerous legal challenges as its self-driving features have led to the deaths of several people. The company was found partially responsible for a fatal Autopilot-related incident in August.
The California ruling took effect Jan. 15 and included a 30-day statewide suspension of operations unless the company stopped using the term within 60 days or changed its systems. Tesla responded in typical fashion: a tongue-in-cheek social post and an assertion that sales would not be affected by the decision. Then, in January, the company effectively ditched base Autopilot in the U.S., overhauling its fleet offering with a standard traffic awareness mode and an option to upgrade your vehicle to FSD, now called “Fully Autonomous (Supervised) Driving.”
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A few weeks later, the state DMV announced that Tesla had fulfilled its obligations and would not face a suspension of its license, but now the company is fighting back more forcefully against the decision.
“An administrative judge found that Tesla violated state law by misleading consumers with the term “Autopilot.” Tesla agreed to end this practice, and now they are challenging it anyway. DMV is committed to protecting the traveling public and will defend the administrative law judge’s findings and decision in court,” a DMV representative said in a statement to CNBC.
