Overview

• An administrative judge in Oakland is weighing a proposal to suspend Tesla’s California manufacturing and dealer licenses for at least 30 days and to require restitution.
• State Department of Justice filings identify four key marketing claims—“Autopilot,” “Full Self-Driving Capability,” and promises of hands-free trips and self-parking—as misleading.
• DMV Commander Melanie Rosario described findings that Tesla’s advertisements create consumer confusion by implying autonomous vehicle capabilities.
• University of South Carolina professor Bryant Walker Smith testified that Tesla’s terminology conveys levels of autonomy beyond the systems’ actual performance.
• Tesla maintains that its on-screen warnings and requirements for active driver supervision counter any potential misunderstanding even as a federal trial over a 2019 Autopilot-related fatal crash continues in Miami.