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After years of battle on this topic, a California judge has ruled that Tesla’s use of the terms “Autopilot” and “Full Self Driving” has effectively been false advertising. Judge Juliet Cox’s proposal was that Tesla’s license to manufacture and sell vehicles in California be suspended for 30 days.
The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) agreed with the proposal … but immediately gave Tesla some leeway and a period of 90 days to comply before its sales license was halted. In the case of its manufacturing license, the period of stay is indefinite. Naturally, Tesla will not have to suspend vehicle production and sales. It will simply change how these features are named and marketed in California, if not more broadly.
The ruling agrees with complaints that “Autopilot” and “Full Self Driving” falsely make people think that Tesla vehicles can operate autonomously, without constant human supervision and engagement. If you’ve been following Tesla for the past decade, you’ve probably seen these claims and cases off and on. In fact, it’s not the first time Tesla has lost a lawsuit like this and been forced to change its marketing — something similar to this already happened in Europe.
California DMV director Steve Gordon did decide to give Tesla “one more chance to be able to remedy the situation,” though, and “find a way to get these misleading statements corrected” before any actual penalty ensues.
As far as the never-ending argument on this topic, “Tesla has never misled consumers. Never. And not even close,” a Tesla lawyer argued in court. However, Tesla lost that argument, so let’s all just move on and wait for Tesla’s new names for these things. I’m sure it will be something very boring and simple….
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