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California DMV accuses Tesla of false advertising with autopilot, self-driving features

The California Department of Motor Vehicles has accused Tesla of false advertising in promoting its “full self-driving” and “Autopilot” features for cars.

On the Tesla website, the manufacturer claims that Autopilot “is designed to be able to conduct short and long distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat … All you will need to do is get in and tell your car where to go.”

The promotional copy implies that the vehicles are fully autonomous, a claim that the California DMV disputes.

In two complaints filed to the state Office of Administrative Hearings, the California DMV said of such claims that “Vehicles equipped with those ADAS features could not at the time of those advertisements, and cannot now, operate as autonomous vehicles.