Last week, California DMV regulators said Tesla was misleading people. Its Autopilot feature, named “Full Self-Driving,” is the main concern. Now, the controller is known to show Tesla’s website ADAS features, the driver needs to set the destination and tell the car where to go. This means that the car can go by itself. However, the vehicle is not that advanced to go with such an automatic.
According to the DMV, the designation isn’t the only reason the public is confused. The website also gives off the same vibe. “The system is designed to enable short and long distance journeys without any intervention by the person in the driver’s seat,” says the complaint, which is surrounded by ADAS features on the website.
This is not the first time such claims have been made by a regulator. In the past, the German government has said that Tesla is misleading the public with its name. This is why the automaker is now prohibited from entering the name “fully self-driving” in Germany.
The DMV’s complaint states, “Instead of simply identifying the product or brand names, these ‘autopilot’ and ‘fully autonomous’ labels and descriptions imply that vehicles equipped with ADAS features operate as autonomous vehicles. Additionally, “However, vehicles equipped with those ADAS features were not able to at the time of the announcements and are now unable to function as autonomous vehicles.”
According to the DMV’s complaint, penalties against Tesla could be as severe as revoking its license to sell vehicles in the state of California. He asked the court to consider allowing buyers who suffered financial loss due to the company’s alleged false advertising to receive refunds. But the DMV doesn’t seem to want anything drastic, at least not right away.
“The DMV wants Tesla to provide more accurate terms and descriptions and more and better consumer education about the product’s capabilities and limitations,” a DMV spokesperson said in a statement. MarketWatch.
Autopilot and fully self-driving branding have already been championed by the company’s CEO, Elon Musk. In the year In a 2020 interview with Automotive News, Musk said, “It’s not like you just got the car and based on the name, you immediately believe the car will drive itself. It’s a stupid idea to look upset in the name of autopilot. Stupid”
