- The state of California nearly revoked Tesla’s license to sell cars in the most populous state over claims that the names of its partial self-driving systems were misleading.
- The company has dropped the names “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” in response, but sued the state.
Tesla has dropped the names Autopilot and Full Self-Driving from its marketing materials after the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) nearly took away its right to sell cars in America’s largest car market.
A court agreed with the state’s DMV late last year that the names constituted false advertising, as Tesla does not make any systems that allow drivers to safely take their hands off the wheel or their eyes off the road while driving. The move threatened to pause Tesla sales in its most important market for at least 30 days.
Now, the company has partially backed down. Tesla has rebranded Autopilot as Traffic Aware Cruise Control, and Full Self-Driving as Full Self-Driving (Supervised). The latter change was made more than two years ago, but has been applied inconsistently.
About Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
- Most automakers, including Tesla, have a system that works if you pay constant attention to what it’s doing.
- One automaker makes a system that lets you look away, but it isn’t Tesla.
Automakers use a five-level system to describe their efforts to develop self-driving cars. Most automakers, Tesla included, now sell a Level 2 system as their most advanced. These let a car accelerate, brake, and steer to hold its place in traffic, but require constant driver supervision.
Related – Self-Driving Cars: Everything You Need to Know
Only Mercedes sells a more advanced Level 3 system – one that lets drivers look away to check their phone or perform similar attentional tasks – and only in Nevada and Northern California.
Related – First (Not) Drive: Testing the Mercedes-Benz Drive Pilot System
But Tesla has marketed its systems under names like Full Self-Driving that imply that owners can turn them on and let the car drive. California found the names themselves a form of deceptive advertising.
Data reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show, as of January 15, more than 2,800 crashes involving Tesla’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). General Motors, in second place, has just 108.
Tesla Sues California
- The company has sued the state, arguing that the false advertising claim is “baseless.”
The matter isn’t settled, however. CNBC reports that Tesla “is suing California’s Department of Motor Vehicles to reverse a ruling that found the automaker violated the law by falsely promoting its cars’ self-driving capabilities.”
The company has bet its future on automation, launching a driverless “robotaxi” and ending production of some cars, as CEO Elon Musk promises investors that driverless cars are its future. Against a promise like that, a finding of false advertising could be harmful.
