California is warning that Tesla sales could be stopped. They say using the word Autopilot is like lying about what the car can do. This disagreement shows things are getting tense between regulators and the car company over how Tesla describes its tech.
The California DMV said Tuesday they might stop Tesla sales for a month. They referred to a judge’s earlier decision allowing the DMV to stop sales right away. But they’re waiting 90 days to see if they can work things out with Tesla first.
The DMV said Tesla’s tech isn’t really what people expect when they hear “Autopilot,” since the cars aren’t fully self-driving.
This issue started in 2023 when the DMV complained about Tesla. Both sides tried to make a deal, but talks stopped. If Tesla wants to avoid a sales stop, it might have to go to court to block the state from doing so.
Tesla could easily stop this from happening and fix the problem for good, said California DMV Director Steve Gordon.
Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, have promoted their self-driving plans for a while, which has helped sales and the company’s stock price. But Tesla has also told drivers they need to pay attention and be ready to take over if the car’s systems fail.
Tesla said Tuesday that the DMV’s move was just about wording and that no customers had complained. They posted on X that Sales in California will keep going as usual.
As the case went on, Tesla changed the name of its advanced driver assistance option. What used to be Full Self-Driving is now Full Self-Driving (Supervised). But Musk and Tesla fans still call it FSD. It costs $8,000.
The regular Autopilot has features most new cars have, like automatic braking, blind spot alerts, and slowing down for slower cars ahead. The FSD is meant to do more, like steering and driving the car, but drivers still have to pay attention and be ready to take over.
California isn’t talking about safety, just the ads. But federal regulators are still investigating serious crashes involving Teslas equipped with driver assistance. In August, a jury in Florida said Tesla was responsible for a deadly 2019 crash involving a Model S with Autopilot. They ordered Tesla to pay $329 million to the victim’s family and to the person who was hurt. Tesla is fighting that decision.
California is a big market for Tesla and has one of the company’s U.S. factories. The DMV could have done more damage. Besides waiting on the 30-day sales pause, they also recommended temporarily halting Tesla’s car production in the state. It hit a record high on Tuesday before the DMV news, going up 3% for the day and 21% for the year. Shares didn’t change much on Wednesday before the market opened.
This decision is pretty important for Tesla’s relationship with California regulators. As California considers a month-long pause on sales, Tesla has to prove its ads are real, not just dreams. How this turns out could change how Tesla advertises its tech in California and how other companies talk about driver assistance systems everywhere.
