Kimberly Gross Kimberly Gross

Thoughts from the Driver’s Seat with Mike Nelson

Somebody’s Still Watching You, With Improvements: Tesla’s In-Cabin Camera

About a year ago, Partner Mike Nelson shared his initial thoughts on Tesla’s interior cabin camera as a tool for monitoring driver engagement. At the time, Mike noted that the cabin camera was an improvement to Tesla’s prior monitoring system that relied largely on haptics, and brought Tesla in line with many other OEMs that already were monitoring driver engagement using cabin cameras. Today, having logged many more miles with the technology in place, Mike has noticed improvements that also have improved his opinion of Tesla’s safety features. Watch the video to see what he has to say, from the driver’s seat of his Model Y.

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Kimberly Gross Kimberly Gross

And Texas Makes Ten: An Update on State Privacy Laws and VPD

Our state privacy law updates are becoming a monthly routine. Last month, we added entries for Indiana, Montana, and Tennessee, and noted that “Texas appears poised to make the number [of states with data privacy laws] an even ten.” Texas has now done just that. On June 18, Governor Greg Abbott signed the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, which will go into effect in the Lone Star State on July 1, 2024. Like most of the other state laws, the Texas Act does not directly address the handling of vehicle performance data, but certainly implicates it.

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Kimberly Gross Kimberly Gross

Thoughts from the Driver’s Seat with Mike Nelson

Is A Privacy Rights Dispute Rightly Venued in Private Arbitration? Tesla Thinks So.

In a recent post, we explored how the move by EV manufacturers away from the traditional dealership sales model is disrupting not only how we buy cars but also the way we litigate disputes related to them. To recap, by selling directly rather than through a dealership, EV manufacturers remain in “contractual privity” with their consumers, which allows them to enforce contractual language requiring consumers to bring disputes with the manufacturer in arbitration (a private forum) rather than in court (a very public forum).

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Kimberly Gross Kimberly Gross

Challenging the Establishment: How EV Manufacturers are Changing the Way Cars Are Sold

Over the past few weeks, our weekly reading has included articles (here, here, and here) about the challenges Tesla and other EV manufacturers have mounted to state dealer franchise laws that effectively prevent direct-to-consumer car sales, whether in a brick-and-mortar context or online.

Why do these laws exist, and how and why are manufacturers fighting them now?

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