Tesla may have to rebrand Autopilot.
Steve Gordon, director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, said at a media briefing Tuesday that Tesla has 90 days to make changes to its advertising copy or face a 30-day suspension of sales in California.
Gordon said Tuesday that the DMV is specifically asking Tesla to change the name “Autopilot” to clarify that the company has advanced driving systems that do not equate to an automated system or autopilot. autonomous car. Changes must be made within 90 days or the DMV will “enforce cessation of sales.”
“I imagine they'll be looking for some kind of remedy,” Gordon said of what Tesla might do next, “but the easiest thing for them to do is just come to an agreement.”
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
November 21, Administrative Judge Juliet E. Cox issued a proposed ruling on whether Tesla misled consumers thinking her cars were more capable of self-driving than they actually were and took it to the DMV for review. However, the document containing this proposal has been hidden from the public and will not be released until December 22.
Gordon said during a briefing Tuesday that Cox recommended suspending Tesla's license to sell and manufacture in California. However, the DMV decided not to seek a manufacturing license suspension and temporarily suspended Tesla's sales license for 90 days to correct the situation.
“They are very important to the state,” Gordon said of Tesla. “We want to be fair to them and give them a chance to see if they can find a solution now that there is an administrative law judge's ruling.”
“If you look at the report for the third quarter of this year, Tesla has the best-selling car. Model Yin its segment,” Gordon added. “We felt there was enough leverage through the sales channel to achieve compliance.”
Tesla's notice follows a week-long hearing at the Auckland Administrative Court in July. In 2022, the DMV sued Tesla, accusing automaker misleading consumers with Tesla advertising and the name of its driver assistance technologies”Full self drivingand Autopilot.
Tesla, who had a hard yeardenied that the company had ever tried to hide the fact that its cars were not fully self-driving.
The DMV sought to suspend Tesla's ability to sell cars in the state for at least 30 days and award consumers monetary damages.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles wrote in its complaint that on several occasions in 2021 and 2022, Tesla's website advertised its FSD driver assistance system as “designed to allow short and long distance driving without any input from a person in the driver's seat.”
Tesla lawyers said at the hearing that the company has always advised customers that they “cannot rely entirely” on FSD or Autopilot.
“Cars with full self-driving capabilities are not currently capable of driving themselves,” attorney Matthew Benedetto, a member of Tesla's legal team, said during the hearing.
