--- title: "Tesla Lawyers Say Failure to Deliver Self-Driving Isn’t Technically Fraud" description: "A lawsuit filed against Tesla alleges it misled consumers by claiming its cars are self-driving, to which Tesla's lawyers retort: well, it's not fraud." date: "2022-12-13" modified: "2022-12-13" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-lawyers-fraud-self-driving" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Self-Driving Vehicles" - "Tesla" tags: - "autopilot" - "full self-driving" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Tesla Lawyers Say Failure to Deliver Self-Driving Isn’t Technically Fraud ![A lawsuit filed against Tesla alleges it misled consumers by claiming its cars are self-driving, to which Tesla's lawyers retort: well, it's not fraud.]() *\Image: Smith Collection/Gado via Getty / Futurism\* ## Fraud Watch Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk have been under intense scrutiny lately. Not just from the public but from the government too, mainly because the EV maker's driver assistance systems "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving," don't actually make its cars drive themselves — even though their names pretty much explicitly imply they do. As part of its defense in a class action lawsuit filed in September, Tesla lawyers have come up with a precarious argument to outright dismiss the lawsuit, stating that while Tesla may not have yet achieved its purported goals of engineering completely autonomous driving, that doesn't constitute fraud, technically. "Mere failure to realize a long-term, aspirational goal is not fraud," wrote the automaker's lawyers in a court filing last month, [as quoted by *CNN*](). ## Anti-Automaker Ammo Along similar lines to a [complaint filed by the DMV]() in Tesla's home state of California, the lawsuit alleges that Tesla misled "the public regarding its Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot, and Full Self-Driving Capability ('FSD') technology," [as quoted by *Electrek*](). Not an unfounded claim, considering the tech's naming and the fact that Elon Musk has publicly and for many years [promised]() that Tesla's cars will be able to completely drive themselves by "next year," which did not go unnoticed in the suit. In addition, the suit alleges that a video published by Tesla showing off one of its cars driving autonomously was also misleading, *CNN* reports, as employees involved in the video's production have confided that the car kept screwing up badly and needed multiple attempts which weren't shown or disclosed. ## Being Reasonable For its part, Tesla contends that it's made itself very clear that its cars are not actually self-driving on its website and manuals, which is more or less true, but is undermined by the fact that many Tesla owners seemingly [never got that memo](). Furthermore, attorneys of the Musk-led company claim that no "reasonable consumer" would "purchase a Tesla vehicle with the belief that it is fully autonomous" based on its labels like Autopilot and Full-Self Driving, [as quoted by *Teslarati*.]() Did Tesla just admit that its fans are delusional? Maybe not explicitly, but it sure would explain a lot. **More on Tesla:** *[Man Says His Brand New Tesla Trapped Him Inside and Its Emergency Latch Broke the Window]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()