Tesla faces U.S. criminal probe over self-driving claims: sources — via drivingdotca Tesla Autonews
Federal and California safety regulators are already scrutinizing whether claims about Autopilot’s capabilities and the system’s design imbue customers with a false sense of security, inducing them to treatas truly driverless cars and become complacent behind the wheel with potentially deadly consequences.
The person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is driving itself.The Justice Department investigation potentially represents a more serious level of scrutiny because of the possibility ofcharges against the company or individual executives, the people familiar with the inquiry said.
As part of the latest probe, Justice Department prosecutors in Washington and San Francisco are examining whethermisled consumers, investors and regulators by making unsupported claims about its driver assistance technology’s capabilities, the sources said.Article contentcharges, seek civil sanctions, or close the probe without taking any action, they said.
The Justice Department’s Autopilot probe is far from recommending any action partly because it is competing with two other DOJ investigations involving, one of the sources said. Investigators still have much work to do and no decision on charges is imminent, this source said.In August 2021, the U.S.