The California DMV has accused Tesla of false advertisements over its “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” features.
The DMV says that Tesla misled customers into thinking that the cars are fully autonomous and more capable than they are. The DMV says the names are misleading and that Tesla exacerbated the issue with misleading claims on its website.
“All you will need to do is get in and tell your car where to go,” Tesla’s website read. “If you don’t say anything, your car will look at your calendar and take you there as the assumed destination. Your Tesla will figure out the optimal route, navigating urban streets, complex intersections and freeways.”
The DMV says that the cars could not, and still cannot, “operate as autonomous vehicles.”
If the complaint succeeds, the DMV could revoke Tesla’s license to sell its cars in California, although it is unlikely they will go that far.
“The DMV will ask that Tesla be required to advertise to consumers and better educate Tesla drivers about the capabilities of its ‘Autopilot” and ‘Full Self-driving’ features, including cautionary warnings regarding the limitations of the features, and for other actions as appropriate given the violations,” a DMV spokesperson said to the Los Angeles Times.
While Tesla does include warnings that drivers of its cars are required to keep their hands on the wheel and are not fully autonomous, the DMV contends that does not erase the misleading claims and names of the features.
Autopilot is a feature in most Tesla cars that enable the car’s internal systems to take over acceleration and deceleration, steering, and other tasks. The Full Self-Driving feature, which costs owners an extra $12,000 to activate, enables more “Beta” features, including its “smart summon” that allows owners to call their car to them, like from a parking spot to the front of a store.
This is not the first time the naming of the features has gotten Tesla in hot water. In 2016 the German government asked Tesla to stop using the term Autopilot for similar reasons.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also investigating a pattern of Teslas crashing into emergency vehicles parked on the side of the road. More than a dozen such crashes have occurred.
It is not clear how many accidents have been caused by the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features because the company does not share that information with the public. Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims that the Full Self-Driving feature has not caused any accidents, but at least eight crash reports sent to federal agencies suggest otherwise. As does a video that went viral of a Tesla crashing into a $3 million private jet while using the Full Self-Driving feature, although that crash was not serious.
Tesla has not yet publicly commented on the DMV’s complaints.