Tesla Faces Criminal Inquiry over Its False Self-Driving Claims

Tesla Inc. is under criminal investigation in the United States over claims that the company's electric vehicles can drive themselves, three people familiar with the matter said, Mike Spector and Dan Levin reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: The criminal Autopilot investigation adds to the other probes and legal issues involving Musk.

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.”

However, the company also has explicitly warned drivers that they must keep their hands on the wheel and maintain control of their vehicles while using Autopilot. The Tesla technology is designed to assist with steering, braking, speed, and lane changes but its features “do not make the vehicle autonomous,” the company says on its website.

Barbara McQuade, a former US attorney in Detroit who prosecuted automotive companies and employees in fraud cases and is not involved in the probe, said investigators likely would need to uncover evidence such as emails or other internal documents showing that Tesla and Musk made misleading statements about Autopilot’s capabilities on purpose.

The criminal Autopilot investigation adds to the other probes and legal issues involving Musk, who became locked in a court battle earlier this year after abandoning a $44 billion takeover of social media giant Twitter Inc, only to reverse course and proclaim excitement for the looming acquisition, Hyunjoo Jin and David Shepardson also reported for Reuters.

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