A key member of the White House Cabinet is taking aim at wording used by electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc TSLA. Here’s the latest.
What Happened: Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk have battled with the White House over several items including not getting invited to a key summit on electric vehicles.
The back and forth seemed to be improving with Tesla agreeing to open up a portion of its Supercharger charging station network for other electric vehicles. The move was praised by President Joe Biden as a “big deal.”
“Thank you, Tesla is happy to support other EVs via our Supercharger network,” Musk said.
The love between Tesla and the White House could quickly disappear.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg shared his take on Tesla’s self-driving technology.
“I wouldn’t call something ‘autopilot’ if the manual explicitly says that you have to have your hands on the road all the time,” Buttigieg said. “That’s not saying anything about the NHTSA scope of investigation, I’m just saying at a common sense level. I think that’s a concern.”
Autopilot comes standard on all new Tesla vehicles. The company also sells a driver-assistance item called full self-driving.
Buttigieg has been critical of self-driving in the past.
“I keep saying this until I’m blue in the face: Anything on the market today that you can buy is a driver assistance technology, not a driver replacement technology. I don’t care what it’s called,” Buttigieg previously said.
Buttigieg has been a proponent of electric vehicles for some time, even arguing with members of Congress of the price differences and cost advantages of EVs versus traditional automotives.
Related Link: Elon Musk's Hyperloop Is Super Interesting But Not Something Fed Can Pay For, Pete Buttigieg Says
Why It’s Important: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched several investigations into the role of Tesla’s Autopilot in crashes and sudden breaking.
Benzinga reported on an accident that saw a potential case of “phantom braking” lead to an accident.
“If Tesla’s vehicles truly have ‘full self-driving capabilities,’ then how do you explain this? Our public roads shouldn’t be a test track for unproven technology. NHTSA must reign in Tesla’s hazardous advanced driving systems,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said of the accident video.
The U.S. Department of Justice has been looking into whether Tesla misled consumers with statements about its Autopilot.
Tesla’s Autopilot has also been the subject of lawsuits from Tesla owners and shareholders over misleading claims.
“Tesla has yet to produce anything even remotely approaching a fully self-driving car,” Tesla owner Briggs Matsko said in a September 2022 lawsuit.
Tesla’s website states Autopilot is a driver assistance system on its website.
“Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Capability are intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment,” the Tesla website reads.
As Tesla faces more competition in the electric vehicle market, some analysts and experts see self-driving as a major catalyst to help Tesla maintain its lead. Musk has also openly discussed the feature.
“It’s really the difference between Tesla being worth a lot of money or worth basically zero,” Musk previously said.
The investigations by multiple agencies and the latest comments from Buttigieg could prove troublesome for Tesla if it is found to have misled investors and consumers or if a name change is required.
While other vehicle companies use different wording for self-driving features, Tesla’s “Autopilot” and “full self-driving” may end up needing to change in order to please regulators.
Read Next: Tesla Reportedly Rolls Out FSD Update In Push Toward Autopilot Merger
Photo: Shutterstock/Unsplash
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