Tesla has stepped into the lions’ den, presenting its so-called Full Self-Driving beta to officials from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) not long after the agency called for its license to sell cars to be revoked. .
Bloomberg reported protests were held last week at the DMV’s headquarters in Sacramento. Also in attendance were a representative from the California Highway Patrol along with three outside consultants for the DMV.
According to email obtained by Bloomberg Through a public records request, Tesla initially sought to prevent these consultants from attending the rally.
Jennifer Cohen, Tesla’s head of policy and business development in California, wrote in an email in late September to Miguel Acosta, DMV’s director of autonomous vehicles, wrote in an email in late September.
“We have yet to receive any assurance that their bias does not affect the DMV’s treatment of Tesla.”
The three consultants are Stanford Law School associate scholar Bryant Walker Smith, CEO of Edge Case Research, Michael Wagner, and University of California transformation research engineer, Steven Shladover.
Smith has previously said that the state’s autonomous vehicle testing rules should apply to Teslas using FSD, while Shladover wrote earlier this year that the company’s use of the term “self-driving” was “very harmful”.
None of the parties involved responded to a request for comment Bloomberg.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently said he doesn’t expect regulatory approval for his company’s autonomous driving technology. until next year.
Tesla is planning to widely release its Fully Self-Driving technology this quarter. Currently, about 160,000 Tesla drivers in North America have access to the FSD beta.
It began rolling out the update this week, with the release note mentioning improvements such as “reducing false speed reductions for pedestrians near crosswalks by using better modeling for pedestrians.” pedestrian movement”.
It is debatable, even as Tesla is pursuing autonomous driving more and more, it has remove radar and sensor and avoid LiDAR in favor of its camera-based Tesla Vision system.
The California DMV has spoken out about what it says are misleading claims made by Tesla about its Fully Autonomous Driving and Autonomous Driving technology.
In a complaint filed with the California Office of Administrative Hearings, July 28, it calls for Tesla’s licensing to sell and manufacture cars in the State of California. suspended or revoked.
It also calls on Tesla to pay compensation to the parties for financial loss or damage and for any other “fair and appropriate” action required.
“Defendant makes or disseminates false or misleading statements and is not based on facts, in advertising media equipped with or likely to be equipped with system features advanced driving (ADAS),” it said in the complaint.
It specifically names the controversially named Level 2 Autopilot and Full Self-Driving autonomous driving features, and cites claims made in Tesla’s marketing materials – primarily on the site company website – from 2021 until the end of July 2022.
“The system is designed to enable short and long distance trips with no action required by the occupants of the driver’s seat,” a line is quoted by the California DMV in its complaint.
“All you have to do is go into the house and tell your car where to go. If you don’t say anything, your car will look at your calendar and take you there as a hypothetical destination,” said another.
Although the DMV admits Tesla published a disclaimer advising that the features “require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous,” they allege the disclaimer This contradicts the “original false or misleading labels and statements” and “does not cure the violation”.
Tesla is also reported to be the subject of a criminal investigation from the US Department of Justice, with three people familiar with the matter at hand Reuters Late last month, the probe was launched last year after more than a dozen crashes while Tesla’s autonomous driving system was active.
Some crashes have been fatal.
Prosecutors in Washington DC and San Francisco are reportedly examining whether Tesla misled consumers, investors and regulators by making unsupported statements about its ability to of driver assistance technology.
This investigation represents a more serious level of scrutiny than previous investigations, the sources said, as it could lead to criminal charges against the company or individual executives.
The DOJ may also seek civil sanctions.
The Autopilot investigation is currently competing with two other DOJ investigations involving Tesla, a source said. Reutersadded that there is still a lot of work to be done and no decisions are imminent.
Autopilot is billed as a Level 2 autonomous driving feature, as is the Full Self-Driving beta – despite what its name may seem to imply.
Level 2 technology requires the driver to remain attentive even when the vehicle is controlling acceleration, braking and steering.
In August 2021, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into a series of collisions, one fatality in which Teslas equipped with Autopilot were involved in collisions. emergency vehicles and stationary road maintenance on site.
The active NHTSA poll includes 830,000 Tesla vehicles equipped with Autopilot.
In June 2022, they confirmed that they were upgrading the investigation to “technical analysis”, identifying 16 accidents. Such a step is required before it can request a revocation.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been outspoken about the possibilities of his company’s driver-assist technology.
On a 2016 conference call, he described Autopilot as “probably better” than a human driver, even though he switched targets.
Last month, he said it will take up to an update next year for the company’s driver-assist technology to “show managers that cars are much, much safer than the average human being.” normal” and fully autonomous vehicles. beta will “be able to get you from home to your work, your friends house, to the grocery store when you touch the wheel.”
Sometimes he made contradictory statements in the same breath. During a similar earnings call last week, Mr Musk said: “It’s like we’re not saying we’re ready to have no one behind the wheel. It’s just that you’ll almost never have to touch the controls, the people driving the vehicle.”
He continued: “But I think we’re going to be pretty close… that you won’t have anyone in the car by the end of the year. And certainly, without question, whatever is on my mind, next year.”
Musk’s claims aside, Tesla has been careful to publish legal disclaimers that say its technology doesn’t make cars self-driving.
For example, on Tesla’s website, it warns that before turning on Autopilot, the driver must first agree to “keep their hands on the wheel at all times” and to always “maintain control and responsibility for their vehicle.” friend”.
