According to a Tesla engineer, a video promoting the Autopilot was a fiction. He reveals that the 2016 film was staged, despite being used for promotional purposes.
Last July, the trial was held for an accident that occurred in 2018 and involved Tesla’s Autopilot. As part of this lawsuit, an engineer from the firm, Ashok Elluswamy, revealed that the features visible in a promotional video of Autopilot did not exist.
In this short film, dating from 2016, we saw a vehicle stop at a red light and start again at a green light. He was heading through the streets and the video ensured that “the person in the driver’s seat was only there for legal reasons”. The manufacturer’s writings confirmed that the car did not ” nothing. The car drives itself”could we read.
Elon Musk relayed this video promoting Tesla’s autonomous system. “Teslas drive themselves”, had written the billionaire to support the images. But during the July 2022 trial, a witness assured the opposite.
Elluswamy explains that the Autopilot team made this video at Musk’s request. Initially, the goal was not to be specific about the program’s features, but to imagine the future.
“The idea of the video was not to portray precisely what was available in 2016 for customers”he said to Reuters. “It had to portray what was possible to build into the system. »
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And according to him, the firm had used 3D mapping on a determined route before the shooting. Thus, the car could follow the turns without flinching. On the other hand, the engineer reveals that certain shots of the video, including one of the car which hit a fence while trying to park alone, were deleted during editing.
What are Elon Musk and Tesla risking?
This is not the first time that an accusation on this subject arises. In 2021, Musk’s comments about Autopilot had already been denounced in an article in the New York Times.
No legal action, nor even any investigation, had followed this revelation. However, the fact that the new charges come directly from testimony in a trial could be a game-changer.
Nikola CEO Trevor Milton was convicted last year of fraud in the same context. Nikola had staged a video of one of his trucks, when it was not driving on its own.
Musk and Tesla therefore risk being accused of having posted a video misleading partners and shareholders, which makes it possible to change the value of a company. In addition, the security argument could also be taken into account in this specific case.
According to a Tesla engineer, a video promoting the Autopilot was a fiction. He reveals that the 2016 film was staged, despite being used for promotional purposes.
Last July, the trial was held for an accident that occurred in 2018 and involved Tesla’s Autopilot. As part of this lawsuit, an engineer from the firm, Ashok Elluswamy, revealed that the features visible in a promotional video of Autopilot did not exist.
In this short film, dating from 2016, we saw a vehicle stop at a red light and start again at a green light. He was heading through the streets and the video ensured that “the person in the driver’s seat was only there for legal reasons”. The manufacturer’s writings confirmed that the car did not ” nothing. The car drives itself”could we read.
Elon Musk relayed this video promoting Tesla’s autonomous system. “Teslas drive themselves”, had written the billionaire to support the images. But during the July 2022 trial, a witness assured the opposite.
Elluswamy explains that the Autopilot team made this video at Musk’s request. Initially, the goal was not to be specific about the program’s features, but to imagine the future.
“The idea of the video was not to portray precisely what was available in 2016 for customers”he said to Reuters. “It had to portray what was possible to build into the system. »
Read also
Tesla Model Y Performance: a simple red cover to hide Long Autonomy brakes?
And according to him, the firm had used 3D mapping on a determined route before the shooting. Thus, the car could follow the turns without flinching. On the other hand, the engineer reveals that certain shots of the video, including one of the car which hit a fence while trying to park alone, were deleted during editing.
What are Elon Musk and Tesla risking?
This is not the first time that an accusation on this subject arises. In 2021, Musk’s comments about Autopilot had already been denounced in an article in the New York Times.
No legal action, nor even any investigation, had followed this revelation. However, the fact that the new charges come directly from testimony in a trial could be a game-changer.
Nikola CEO Trevor Milton was convicted last year of fraud in the same context. Nikola had staged a video of one of his trucks, when it was not driving on its own.
Musk and Tesla therefore risk being accused of having posted a video misleading partners and shareholders, which makes it possible to change the value of a company. In addition, the security argument could also be taken into account in this specific case.
