What We’re Reading
US Justice Department issues subpoenas to Tesla in ongoing probes (Reuters, October 23, 2023)
The U.S. Justice Department is continuing to turn up the heat on Tesla in its investigation over the automaker’s ADAS, claimed driving range, and other issues. Tesla disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday that it recently received subpoenas from the DOJ seeking “documents related to Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD features,” as well as other requests “associated with personal benefits, related parties, vehicle range and personnel decisions.”
Tesla has been under heavy scrutiny from numerous agencies, including criminal investigations by the Justice Department over deceptive vehicle performance claims and a purported secret project that diverted company funds to the construction of a home for Chief Executive Elon Musk. NHTSA has also been investigating Tesla’s Autopilot over numerous crashes involving emergency vehicles and whether its driver monitoring system adequately ensures driver engagement when using ADAS.
Despite these headwinds, Tesla also said its capital expenditure for 2023 would outpace previous targets, as it continues to ramp up production for new models, most notably the widely anticipated Cybertruck.
California DMV suspends Cruise’s self-driving car permits, effective immediately (CNBC, October 24, 2023)
The California DMV dealt a major blow to automation yesterday when it suspended Cruise’s deployment and testing permits, effective immediately. The suspension follows repeated incidents in which Cruise robotaxis blocked first responder vehicles, interfered with traffic, and caused injuries—prompting safety concerns, calls for the DMV to reverse its August decision to allow widespread operation of robotaxis in San Francisco, and a NHTSA investigation.
The DMV cited four regulations supporting its decision, including regulations that “allow suspension in the event ‘the Department determines the manufacturer’s vehicles are not safe for the public’s operation,’ and ‘the manufacturer has misrepresented any information related to safety of the autonomous technology of its vehicles.’” Cruise will have an opportunity to apply for reinstatement once it fulfills certain requirements. Cruise may continue to operate its vehicles with a safety driver in the meantime.
Tesla aware of Autopilot steering malfunction before fatal crash -lawyer (Reuters, October 24, 2023)
A jury will soon get to decide Tesla’s liability in for the 2019 collision that killed driver Micah Lee and severely injured his passengers. In closing arguments yesterday, Plaintiffs’ counsel “cited an internal safety analysis conducted by the company that showed it knew about a steering malfunction in its Autopilot driver assistant feature about two years earlier.” Counsel hopes the jury will agree that this and other evidence proves Tesla knew about the exact defect that he argues led to the crash, and even “instructed employees to accept no liability or responsibility for the problem.” Tesla continues to deny all liability, calling into question whether Autopilot was even in use at the time of the crash and pointing to Lee’s blood alcohol level. Tesla’s counsel is expected to continue his closing argument today.