Tesla lies to customers: “Video self-driving car staged”

At Tesla, there is rumbling from all sides. And recent revelations about the company’s self-driving cars are tightening the noose around Elon Musk. An over-hyped promotional video showcasing the Autopilot system’s capabilities to the world in 2016 was reportedly fully staged.

Tesla shares have plummeted since Elon Musk took over Twitter. Controversial names were allowed back onto the social media platform as thousands of electric cars rolled inexorably back into the factory. In addition, the company’s former CEO is currently on trial for alleged deception in Tesla’s privatization. On top of that, this Tesla self-driving car demo is now in the eye of the storm too.

The Autopilot scandal was exposed in another court case. In 2018, a Chinese driver died when his Tesla Model X with Autopilot on crashed into a highway barrier. The man’s family took Tesla to court.

Self-driving Tesla video staged

In a statement, Tesla’s head of autopilot software said the video was intended to “paint a picture of what’s possible to build the system,” rather than what customers might actually expect from the system. However, Elon Musk tweeted at the time that the Tesla “drives itself (without human intervention)” in the demo video.

Tesla drives itself (no human intervention at all) through city streets to highways to streets and then finds a parking spot https://t.co/V2T7KGMPBo

– Mr. Tweet (@elonmusk) October 20, 2016

But that contradicts Ashok Elluswamy. The supposedly self-driving car “had a specific predetermined route” and “used pre-assigned information to drive it,” he says. During filming of the video, Elluswamy was an engineer on the team responsible for developing the autopilot system. At that time, Tesla was not at all able to carry out dynamic route planning. Instead, the company’s engineers had to map out the route the car would take for the promotional video.

Autopilot with no skills

The video also shows the self-driving car navigating traffic lights with ease, but that wasn’t the case. Elluswamy also says that Tesla’s Autopilot had “no traffic light capabilities,” although it’s clearly shown in the video. He couldn’t remember if the person in the driver’s seat also controlled the acceleration and braking. What that means for Elon Musk and Tesla for the time being is unclear. But it can’t be good news.