This video was released in 2016.
Tesla could be in serious trouble. Tesla’s 2016 staged video showed its FSD autopilot system controlling the car.
Ashok Elluswamy was the head of the Tesla Autopilot Software Division and spoke out about this manipulation. He would not have admitted it in a normal setting, but he was required to as part of his testimony regarding a 2018 fatal accident. It is interesting to mention that Elluswami was present last summer for testimony, but this data has only been made public now.
According to him, that very video was intended to “show the possibility of building such an autopilot system,” and not to convince customers that Tesla’s production cars will have such capabilities. True, the company “forgot” to at least somehow hint at this.
That video was filmed to show that the Tesla car demonstrated did not move independently. Instead, it was manipulated using sensors and cameras. For driving, additional pre-mapped information was also used. The car was assigned a specific route by the system. There was no autopilot.
Elluswami said that Tesla’s FSD autopilot version at the time of the famous video didn’t allow the car respond to traffic lights. However, this was clearly shown in the video.
Actually, Tesla has deceived customers. And its actions aren’t very different from Nikola’s. Nikola once got into a scandal by rolling an inoperable electric truck down the mountain to advertise.
It is not clear if Tesla will face any consequences for publishing such confessions, but it could be sued.