Tesla sales won’t be suspended in California after regulators ruled Tuesday that the electric vehicle company has stopped misleading customers about its driver assistance features.
In December, the California Department of Motor Vehicles found Tesla in violation of state law for exaggerating the capabilities of its “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” technology.
The technology cannot be used without an alert human driver present.
The DMV threatened to suspend Tesla’s dealer and manufacturer licenses in the state for 30 days if it did not correct its marketing.
Since then, Tesla has stopped using the term “autopilot” in California and added “supervised” to describe its Full Self-Driving mode.
“The department is pleased that Tesla took the required action to remain in compliance with the State of California’s consumer protections,” DMV Director Steve Gordon said in a statement.
Chief Executive Elon Musk has long touted the abilities of Tesla’s driver assistance features, claiming for more than 10 years that a Tesla can drive itself as safely as a human.
Last year, a Miami jury found Tesla partly responsible for a fatal crash involving its Autopilot system and ordered the company to pay $240 million to the victims.
Also, last year, Tesla shareholders sued Musk for making “materially false” claims about Tesla’s robotaxi operations in Austin, Texas.
Regulators had given Tesla 90 days from December to adjust its advertising and stop leading consumers to believe that Autopilot and Full Self-Driving could be used safely without an attentive human.
The post DMV decides not to suspend Tesla sales in California over deceptive marketing appeared first on Los Angeles Times.




