The US electric car manufacturer Tesla and CEO Elon Musk (53) have won a legal victory regarding statements about autopilot technology. A federal court in San Francisco on Monday dismissed a shareholder lawsuit that accused them of misleading investors with exaggerated statements.
Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin based the decision on the fact that the plaintiffs had failed to adequately prove that Tesla and Musk should be held liable for allegedly false promises. Some of the disputed statements are not necessarily false or could be understood as future expectations.
Technology with problems
Shareholders had argued that Tesla and Musk had falsely claimed that they were close to introducing technology that was safer than human driving. However, the technology is actually fraught with security problems.
Despite this success, Tesla continues to face investigations by the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as a lawsuit from the California Department of Transportation because of his claims about autonomous driving faced.