Tesla: a breach of confidential data in Germany?

Tesla is back in the spotlight in Germany following revelations by the German newspaper “Handelsblatt” about a leak of confidential data.

According to Reuters, which gained access to the data from Handelsblatt, 100 GB of confidential data belonging to Tesla owners and former employees were leaked in a breach on Thursday in Germany. Dubbed “Tesla Files” by Reuters, this confidential information partly concerns the semi-autonomous driving system “Full Self-Driving” (FSD).

Within these Tesla Files, more than 4,000 complaints related to malfunctions of the semi-autonomous driving system have been reported. They involved sudden accelerations of the vehicle. Additionally, Tesla would experience “phantom” braking phases, where the vehicle reacts to imaginary obstacles on the road.

Another part of the information revealed by the breach includes identification data of current and former employees. The social security number of Tesla CEO Elon Musk is among this information. Furthermore, the breach includes private email addresses, phone numbers, employee salaries, customer banking details, and secret information about Tesla’s production processes.

According to Handelsblatt, this breach would constitute a violation of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Is Tesla once again the focus of authorities’ attention?

This is not the first time this year that Tesla and its FSD system have been under scrutiny from authorities. In the United States, more than 360,000 vehicles required a software update for the semi-autonomous driving system due to a malfunction.

Moreover, last month, Tesla was in the spotlight following revelations from Reuters. It revealed a practice among Tesla employees in California of sharing sensitive data. They accessed “Autopilot” cameras of the vehicles and shared what they saw via screenshots.

Indeed, the report from the NHTSA (the U.S. safety regulator) noted failures concerning adherence to traffic signs and traffic lights. One complaint registered in the report indicated that a Tesla crossed a stop sign intersection without stopping. Another complaint stated that a vehicle continued straight instead of taking its right exit.

In June 2022, another report from the U.S. Road Safety Agency indicated that this FSD software was involved in 273 road accidents in the United States. It clarified that reports may have been counted multiple times for different failure reports related to the “Autopilot” system.

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