A German court has reportedly banned Tesla’s misleading advertising statements that are related to the capabilities of autonomous driving and driver assistance systems.
The American EV and clean energy company can make an appeal to the recent court’s ruling. The case was reportedly brought by Wettbewerbszentrale, an industry-sponsored watchdog that is tasked with policing the anti-competitive practices in Germany. The court in Munich agreed with the industry watchdog’s assessment and subsequently banned the company from including the full potential for autonomous driving as well as Autopilot exclusive in its advertising materials.
The court claims that such materials can mislead consumers and disrupt the business practices. This could probably lead to an impression among average buyers that these self-driving cars could drive safely without any human intervention. This might also suggest that such systems are currently legal in Germany.
Additionally, the autopilot system of Tesla has been criticized by regulators, including those from the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) in the U.S., claiming that the system lacks safeguards.
There have been rising concerns regarding the assistance systems that are capable of performing driving tasks for extended stretches with little or no human input. This misleading information could tempt the drivers to neglect the obligation to consistently have control of their vehicles.
However, Tesla has reportedly stated that it has informed the customers of the automated driver assistance technology not being equivalent to a fully automated, self-driving system. Elon Musk, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, has recently stated that the EV manufacturer was rapidly making its way to enable autonomous driving in cars, without the need for the driver input. These vehicles are known as the Level 5 self-driving cars or AVs (autonomous vehicles).
Tesla Germany’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comments on Tuesday’s ruling.
Source credit:
