Justice: What is the issue with Tesla’s Autopilot in the USA?

The sky is darkening in the United States for Tesla‘s autonomous driving system, which could face a very costly mega-lawsuit.

From Europe, the topic has significantly dropped to the background of Tesla news, yet this is a mistake. Something very important for the future of the Californian manufacturer is currently unfolding in the United States, with potentially serious consequences. Most likely leading to Elon Musk’s removal from Tesla’s leadership.

Let’s rewind the story. For several months, individual lawsuits against Tesla have been piling up following accidents, sometimes fatal, while the Autopilot was engaged. Autonomous driving is still far from perfect, even if its accident statistics are flattering compared to humans. But in the United States, where responsibility must always be assigned to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation, Tesla has become a focal point to highlight the death of a loved one… And so be it, inversely, the system saves lives, such as in the case of a driver taken to hospital by his Tesla.

This financial cynicism has taken on a new dimension in about a month, as the U.S. Department of Justice has taken up the case. It aims to understand why Tesla is attacked from all sides—attacks that could ruin the manufacturer if complaints multiply by the hundreds. Therefore, this authority must decide on Tesla’s liabilities in these accidents and thus establish a sort of jurisprudence.

What future for the Autopilot?

Unfortunately, this is where things truly get complicated for Tesla and Elon Musk in particular. The U.S. justice system is trying to assess whether Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk have falsely described the autonomous driving features of their electric vehicles. Have these two actors misled customers and investors by suggesting that the Autopilot and FSD (Full Self-Driving) technologies allowed Teslas to operate without human intervention?

Just by its name, FSD, for “Full Self-Driving,” Tesla puts itself in a difficult position because the commercial promise is clear: the driver can be left to be driven by the vehicle. Elon Musk’s active promotion via tweets on his social network X is also targeted.

The Department of Justice is also investigating recent updates to Autopilot software to understand the corrections and possible concealments of information. Has Autopilot exceeded its homologation rights? What is certain is that Tesla has been highly active in recent months in correcting its autonomous driving system. The manufacturer justifies this strategy by the arrival, in summer, of a 100% autonomous Robotaxi.

Tesla, or the art of stirring the pot to get slapped? One thing is certain: the sentence against Tesla will greatly influence the development of this autonomous driving technology, which still appears to be the way of the future. Using truck, bus, or taxi drivers, or wasting hours in traffic, are no longer “profitable” in our 3rd millennium society.

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