Tesla makes false claims about Autopilot, full-self driving: US agency

San Francisco, Aug 7 (IANS) The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in California has accused Elon Musk-run Tesla of running fake claims about its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) features.

The agency said in its filing that Tesla "wrongly implies" that cars equipped with the technology can operate autonomously, reports The Verge.

The DMV pointed towards information on Tesla's Autopilot page which states that its FSD system "is designed to be able to conduct short and long distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver's seat" and is capable of "navigating urban streets, complex intersections and freeways."

The agency filed two separate complaints, alleging Tesla made "untrue or misleading" claims about its vehicles' autonomous driving capabilities.

Drivers have to pay $12,000 extra for Tesla's FSD system that comes with auto-parking, auto lane changing and the ability for drivers to summon a vehicle from a parking space to where they're standing.

"Instead of simply identifying product or brand names, these 'Autopilot' and 'Full Self-Driving Capability' labels and descriptions represent that vehicles equipped with the ADAS (advanced driver-assistance system) features will operate as an autonomous vehicle, but vehicles equipped with those ADAS features could not at the time of those advertisements, and cannot now, operate as autonomous vehicles," the DMV claims in the filling.

"These advertisements are a deceptive practice."

In Tesla's Q2 earnings call, Musk said the price of FSD Beta might go up by the end of this year.

"The value of FSD is extremely high and not well understood by most people. It is basically currently ridiculously cheap, assuming FSD materialises, which it will," Musk said.

Last week, he said that "we're still tracking very much to have widespread deployment of FSD beta this year in North Americaa.