America. Tesla sued for making false promises on driver assistance.

Electric car maker Tesla has faced further legal trouble over driver assistance programs marketed under names such as “Autopilot” and “Fully Self-Driving”.

A US law firm filed a lawsuit on Wednesday (local time) on behalf of a Tesla owner. Tesla did not initially comment on the matter.

Tesla misled the public in advertising the plans, the suit says. The manufacturer has since 2016 said its technologies for self-driving cars are already fully operational or on the way.

In fact, the software is still immature and insecure. Promises “turned wrong again and again”. Customers who receive program updates are essentially incompetent test engineers.

Tesla boss Musk has always emphasized that his company’s software makes driving safer and helps avoid accidents. Tesla advises customers that these are assistance systems and that drivers should always keep their hands on the wheel and be ready to take control of the vehicle. Still, the plans are controversial — because terms like “autopilot” and “fully self-driving” sound like fully autonomous driving.

In August, California’s transportation commission sued the car company for making false advertising promises in Tesla’s driver assistance software. It is certain that in the past, clients have allowed themselves to be carried away by bold actions many times. In June, the U.S. Department of Transportation expanded its “automated” investigation into a series of rear-end collisions.

SDA