California Gives Tesla 90 Days to Change ‘Autopilot’ Name — Or Face a Sales Ban
A judge ruled that Tesla’s marketing confused customers into thinking the cars could drive themselves.
Turns out Tesla’s “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” claims don’t actually let cars drive themselves — and now California is making Elon Musk‘s company pay for the confusion.
The automaker now has 90 days to fix the problem, or it will face a 30-day suspension of its sales license in the state. The California DMV won’t touch the manufacturing license, however, meaning factory operations will continue uninterrupted.
This is not the first time California has had beef with Tesla. The DMV first accused Musk’s company of false advertising in 2022, arguing the feature names implied autonomous operation despite requiring an attentive driver ready to take control at any time. Since then, Tesla renamed its premium driver-assistance option to “Full Self-Driving (Supervised).”
Turns out Tesla’s “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” claims don’t actually let cars drive themselves — and now California is making Elon Musk‘s company pay for the confusion.
The automaker now has 90 days to fix the problem, or it will face a 30-day suspension of its sales license in the state. The California DMV won’t touch the manufacturing license, however, meaning factory operations will continue uninterrupted.
This is not the first time California has had beef with Tesla. The DMV first accused Musk’s company of false advertising in 2022, arguing the feature names implied autonomous operation despite requiring an attentive driver ready to take control at any time. Since then, Tesla renamed its premium driver-assistance option to “Full Self-Driving (Supervised).”
The rest of this article is locked.
Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.
Already have an account? Sign In
