ohn Stringer, of Los Gatos and founder of Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley, stays vigilant as he tests his Model X Tesla’s self-driving beta version near downtown Los Gatos in Los Gatos, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. Tesla Inc. must face a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that it misled consumers about its cars’ self-driving capabilities, a fresh setback for the electric-car maker just as Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has staked the company’s future on autonomy.
“If Tesla meant to convey that its hardware was sufficient to reach high or full automation,” the complaint “plainly alleges sufficient falsity,” US District Judge Rita Lin wrote in an order Wednesday.Musk declared in April that Tesla is “going balls to the wall for autonomy” while committing the car maker to a next-generation, self-driving vehicle concept called the robotaxi.
LoSavio brought the complaint on behalf of anyone who bought or leased a new Tesla vehicle with Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot or FSD since 2016.