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Tesla Inc. has failed to convince an administrative judge that it is not responsible for the claims made by a California regulator, who claimed the company had overstated the self-driving abilities of its vehicles. This is one of many ongoing regulatory investigations into the electric-car maker’s marketing.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles alleges that Tesla made false statements about the “Autopilot” and the “Full Self-Driving”, driver-assistance functions, leading customers to think they were more advanced than they actually are.
The ruling on June 10 comes less than one month after a San Francisco federal judge ruled that Tesla had to face a proposed lawsuit by consumers who made similar claims.
The advancing cases are a new setback for Elon Musk, whose CEO has staked his company’s future in autonomy.
Musk said in April that Tesla was “going balls to wall for autonomy”, while committing to a next generation self driving vehicle concept called robotaxi. The billionaire entrepreneur, who has been talking big about autonomy for more than a decade, has convinced customers to pay thousands of dollar for its Full Self-Driving feature, or FSD. FSD is a misnomer, as it requires constant supervision. It does not make vehicles autonomous. But Musk has predicted that the technology will soon live up to its branding.
The company is also facing federal probes to determine whether defects in the Autopilot driver-assistance system have contributed to fatal accidents. Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are also investigating whether Tesla has made misleading statements about Autopilot.
In April, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began an investigation to determine if the EV maker’s recall more than 2,000,000 cars months earlier adequately addressed Autopilot’s safety risks.
Tesla and the California Department of Motor Vehicles did not immediately respond to comments.
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