Tesla drops ‘Autopilot’ to comply with California ruling
Feb. 18 (UPI) — Tesla will stop using the term “Autopilot” in marketing of its vehicles in California, the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles announced.
In December, a judge ruled that the company was using deceptive wording in its marketing of the cars in California and recommended a suspension of sales and manufacturing in the state. But the DMV allowed the company 60 days to change its wording.
Autopilot is Tesla’s driver-assistance mode, and its self-driving setting is called Full Self-Driving. The DMV argued that both terms mislead customers and distort the abilities of the driver-assistance systems.
Tesla had changed the self-driving system to be called “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” to indicate that drivers must still monitor the system. But it stayed with “Autopilot,” prompting the DMV to refer the case to the California Office of Administrative Hearings.
The judge ruled with the DMV and recommended the suspension. But the DMV gave the company the grace period.
“Since then, Tesla took corrective action and has stopped using the misleading term ‘Autopilot’ in the marketing of its electric vehicles in California,” the DMV said in a press release Tuesday. “Tesla had previously modified its use of the term ‘Full Self-Driving’ to clarify that driver supervision is required. By taking this prescribed action, Tesla will avoid having its dealer and manufacturer licenses suspended in the state for 30 days by the DMV.”
But Tesla went a step further and changed its driver-assistance plan altogether. It discontinued the former Autopilot mode and now requires owners to pay for an FSD Supervised subscription. Until last week, owners paid a one-time fee of $8,000 for FSD. Now, they pay a $99 monthly fee. CEO Elon Musk has said the fee will increase as FSD Supervised improves, TechCrunch reported.
California is Tesla’s biggest market, with about 30% of its sales. Tesla recently announced that its Fremont, Calif., factory will begin making its Optimus humanoid robots by the end of 2027. It discontinued its Model S and X cars, previously manufactured there.
