For nearly a decade Elon Musk has claimed Teslas can truly drive themselves. They can’t. Now California regulators, a Miami jury and a new class action suit are calling him on it.
FORBES
A federal judge in San Francisco just greenlit a class action lawsuit by Tesla owners to sue the carmaker for exaggerated claims by CEO Elon Musk and the company about the self-driving capability of its electric vehicles that stretch all the way back to 2016. It’s the latest blow to plans by the world’s richest person to reposition Tesla as a leader in artificial intelligence and autonomous driving amid a dramatic slowdown in its EV sales.
Nine years ago, Elon Musk told reporters that Tesla was taking a bold leap into the future by equipping its electric lineup with all the tech it would ever need to one day operate as truly autonomous vehicles.
“The full autonomy hardware suite will be standard on all vehicles Tesla makes from here on out,” Musk said. When fully utilized at some later date, as the AI-enabled software was refined, an array of digital cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radar would give Teslas full “Level 5” autonomy – a designation indicating a robotic ability to drive under all conditions.
It wasn’t true then and still isn’t.
From hyperloops to solar roofs to trillion-dollar savings from federal budget cuts by DOGE, Musk has developed a reputation for excessive boasts and telling outright whoppers. For years, that habit hasn’t been a big problem for his companies, his image or wealth, but it’s shaping up to be one for Tesla, already stung by a 13% drop in its global EV sales in the first half of 2025.
The class-action suit comes on the heels of a separate federal case in Miami this month in which a jury determined that Tesla bore some responsibility for a fatal 2019 crash that occurred while its Autopilot feature was engaged, and ordered the company to pay $243 million in damages. Meanwhile, the company could temporarily lose its ability to sell cars in California, its top U.S. market, if a judge in a case brought by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles determines it misled consumers by overstating the self-driving ability of its vehicles.