Tesla to cut workforce as China accelerates into EV sector, Nikkei Asia
Three people with knowledge of the situation told reporters that U.S. officials are looking into whether Tesla committed securities or wire fraud by lying to investors and customers about its electric cars’ ability to drive themselves.
Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems help the driver turn, brake, and change lanes, but they do not drive the car completely on their own. The Justice Department is looking into other comments that Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have made that suggest the company’s cars can drive themselves. Tesla has told drivers to be ready to take over driving at any time.
Separately, U.S. regulators have looked into hundreds of crashes involving Teslas with Autopilot on, including some fatalities. This led the company to recall a lot of cars.
Sources say that investigators are looking into whether Tesla lied to customers about its driver-assistance systems, which is a type of wire fraud that involves lying in interstate contacts. Two of the people also said that they are looking into whether Tesla defrauded investors, which is also a type of securities fraud.
One of the people said that the Securities and Exchange Commission is also looking into what Tesla told investors about its driver-assistance systems. The SEC didn’t want to say anything.
Tesla did not answer when asked for a statement. In a report in October of last year, it was said that the Justice Department had asked the company for information about Full Self-Driving and Autopilot.
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