Tesla’s self-driving claims about Autopilot feature result in US criminal probe
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk said last week that its ‘Full Self-Driving’ software upgrade would allow people to travel without touching the wheel
- The electric vehicle maker has also explicitly warned drivers to keep their hands on the wheel, complicating any possible case from the US Justice Department
The US Department of Justice launched the previously undisclosed probe last year following more than a dozen crashes, some of them fatal, involving Tesla’s driver assistance system Autopilot, which was activated during the accidents, the people said.
As early as 2016, Tesla’s marketing materials have touted Autopilot’s capabilities. On a conference call that year, Elon Musk, the Silicon Valley automaker’s chief executive, described it as “probably better” than a human driver.
Last week, Musk said on another call Tesla would soon release an upgraded version of “Full Self-Driving” software allowing customers to travel “to your work, your friend’s house, to the grocery store without you touching the wheel”.
A video currently on the company’s website says: “The person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is driving itself.”