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The U.S. Northern District of California filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the electric vehicle giant, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). The district is seeking a class-action status for what it characterized as years of “misleading and deceptive statements” regarding the company’s self-driving technology.
Briggs Matsko, the named plaintiff, said Tesla did this to “generate excitement” about its vehicles, attract investments, boost sales, avoid bankruptcy, drive up its stock price and become a “dominant player” in electric vehicles.
“Tesla has yet to produce anything even remotely approaching a fully self-driving car,” Matsko said.
Matsko said he paid a $5,000 premium for his 2018 Tesla Model X to obtain Enhanced Autopilot.
He also said Tesla drivers who receive software updates “effectively act as untrained test engineers” and have found “myriad problems,” including that vehicles steer into oncoming traffic, run red lights, and fail to make routine turns.
The lawsuit follows similar allegations filed on July 28 by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles with the state’s Office of Administrative Hearings saying the carmaker overstated the ability of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technologies. The DMV’s filings were cited in the class action lawsuit as evidence of Tesla’s deceptions.
The case is Matsko v Tesla Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-05240.
