Tesla is reportedly being probed by the Department of Justice over whether its self-driving claims could constitute “securities or wire fraud.”
Reuters is reporting based on three sources:
U.S. prosecutors are examining whether Tesla committed securities or wire fraud by misleading investors and consumers about its electric vehicles’ self-driving capabilities, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The government is reported specifically looking at statements by Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk.
Tesla revealed that it received subpoenas from the DOJ late last year regarding Autopilot and its self-driving effort.
But now the Reuters report specifies that the DOJ is looking at potential wire fraud and securities fraud:
Investigators are exploring whether Tesla committed wire fraud, which involves deception in interstate communications, by misleading consumers about its driver-assistance systems, the sources said. They are also examining whether Tesla committed securities fraud by deceiving investors, two of the sources said.
The report also claims that the SEC is still looking at those claims.
These investigations are happening as Musk has recently ramped up his claims that Tesla is close to achieving self-driving. Tesla has also recently changed the name of its system from ‘Full Self-Driving Beta’ to ‘Supervised Full Self-Driving.’
Electrek’s Take
Top comment by HingaDinga
One way I could see this going somewhere is if the DOJ has current or former Tesla engineers who claim that Tesla had a way longer timeline internally than Elon was pushing to the public. Then, there might be something.
This is where "Clark's Law" comes into play - "sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice."
Elon has been publicly wrong about the capabilities and timeline for FSD for almost a decade now. He has repeatedly made statements that overpromise what the system will be capable of. One overstatement is understandable, two is weird but maybe he's just an optimist, but at this point we have to acknowledge that he should know better. He, or at least the board, should be learning for their past mistakes and overstatements and should have stopped making claims they cannot back up.
The fact that he continues at this point is a sign of dereliction of duty either by himself or the board. There need to be legal consequences for this irresponsibility, or it just sets the precedent that companies can lie to consumers and get away by simply claiming "we're optimistic."
It’s not the first time that the government has been sniffing around Tesla over these issues.
I don’t know how much meat there is on this for them. Despite the fact that I agree with the fact that Elon has made too ambitious statements about self-driving with the goal of selling vehicles, he is also more cautious with his words than people give him credit for (most of the time – there are a few infamous examples).
One way I could see this going somewhere is if the DOJ has current or former Tesla engineers who claim that Tesla had a way longer timeline internally than Elon was pushing to the public. Then, there might be something.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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