U.S. Transportation Secretary Criticizes Tesla Autopilot

Tesla should not call its driver-assistance system Autopilot an autopilot, because the company’s cars cannot drive themselves. This was stated by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, reported by Associated Press.

The official voiced concerns about the company’s marketing.

“I don’t think something should be called, for example, an autopilot, when the small print says you must keep your hands on the wheel and look at the road,” Buttigieg said.

He warned that the department would hold Tesla or any other company to account for non-compliance with federal safety standards.

“We must remain objective here. But every time a company does something wrong, or a vehicle needs to be recalled — we will do so,” the minister said.

Buttigieg acknowledged the “huge potential” of robo-cars. He said they could reduce the number of deaths on U.S. roads, which run at around 40,000 per year.

However, the minister believes that existing technologies are not capable of achieving this goal.

“It isn’t automatically possible to realise this potential. This is what we are trying to shape here at the Department of Transportation,” he said.

Tesla has repeatedly faced criticism for the names of its driver-assistance systems Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD). Experts say that, despite the terms “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving,” these features do not live up to expectations.

In October 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into advertising promises around Autopilot and FSD. Similar charges against the company were voiced by the California Department of Transportation.

In September, owners of robo-cars filed a class-action lawsuit against Tesla over allegedly false advertising of driver-assistance systems.

Since 2016, NHTSA investigates more than 30 crashes in which Tesla’s Autopilot features were likely involved.

Also in February 2023 the agency required the manufacturer to recall nearly 363,000 vehicles due to issues with the driver-assistance system.

In January 2023, Tesla was accused of creating staged promotional videos about autonomous driving technology.

In December, California authorities forbade the manufacturer from naming Autopilot Full Self-Driving.