Tesla will not use the ‘fully autonomous driving’ brand from next year

From next year, Tesla will not be able to use the brand name ‘Full Self-Driving (FSD)’.

US media Governant Technology (GT) reported on the 23rd (local time) that the California state government has banned Tesla’s ‘false advertising’ under a new state law.

The state law, which takes effect in January of next year, prohibits manufacturers and distributors in California from “deceptively naming or marketing.”

Tesla’s FSD function is only level 2 or 3 which remains at the driver assistance level.

However, at the end of last month, Tesla announced that it would distribute the FSD software to 160,000 cars in North America for $15,000 (about 20 million won). Around the same time, a Tesla car driving with the FSD function turned on suddenly on Highway 80 in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, and 8 cars collided, resulting in an accident in which 9 were injured. people.

Consumers also filed a class-action lawsuit in San Francisco federal court in September, alleging that Tesla has falsely advertised FSD software since 2016.

“This bill improves consumer safety by requiring dealers and manufacturers who sell cars with ‘semi-autonomous driving’ assistance features to provide clarification,” said lawmaker Senator Lena Gonzalez.

GT also said Tesla lobbied against the legislation, saying, “Consumers are already aware of the limitations of FSD.”

In addition, in the case of Google subsidiary Waymo, which already conducts limited self-driving in California, it stopped explaining self-driving from 2021 due to driver confusion caused by the Tesla ad.

Reporter Lim Dae-jun ydj@aitimes.com