Musk's Self-Driving Tesla Claims Have Been Outright Falsehoods

Forbes

For nearly a decade Elon Musk has claimed Teslas can truly drive themselves. They can’t. Now California regulators, a Miami jury and a new class action suit are calling him on it.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2025/08/20/elon-musks-self-driving-tesla-lies-are-finally-catching-up-to-him/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00today on forbes elon musk's self-driving tesla lies are finally catching up to him

00:08a federal judge in san francisco just greenlit a class action lawsuit by tesla owners

00:13to sue the carmaker for exaggerated claims by ceo elon musk and the company about the

00:18self-driving capability of its electric vehicles that stretch all the way back to 2016. it's the

00:25latest blow to plans by the world's richest person to reposition tesla as a leader in artificial

00:30intelligence and autonomous driving amid a dramatic slowdown in its ev sales nine years ago elon musk

00:38told reporters that tesla was taking a bold leap into the future by equipping its electric lineup

00:44with all the tech it would ever need to one day operate as truly autonomous vehicles musk said

00:50quote the full autonomy hardware suite will be standard on all vehicles tesla makes from here

00:56on out when fully utilized at some later date as the ai-enabled software was refined an array of

01:03digital cameras ultrasonic sensors and radar would give tesla's full so-called level 5 autonomy a

01:10designation indicating a robotic ability to drive under all conditions problem is it wasn't true then

01:18and still isn't from hyper loops to solar roofs to trillion dollar savings from federal budget cuts

01:24by doge musk has developed a reputation for excessive boasts and telling outright whoppers

01:32for years that habit hasn't been a big problem for his companies his image or wealth but it's shaping up

01:37to be one for tesla already stung by a 13 drop in its global ev sales in the first half of 2025.

01:45the class action suit comes on the heels of a separate federal case in miami this month

01:51in which a jury determined that tesla bore some responsibility for a fatal 2019 crash that occurred

01:57while its autopilot feature was engaged the jury ordered the company to pay 243 million dollars in

02:03damages meanwhile the company could temporarily lose its ability to sell cars in california its top u.s

02:11market if a judge in a case brought by the state's department of motor vehicles determines it misled

02:17consumers by overstating the self-driving ability of its vehicles phil koopman an autonomous vehicle

02:24tech researcher and professor emeritus at carnegie mellon university said quote the overarching thing

02:30is none of this is new this has all been a long time coming we're sort of seeing the pieces fall into

02:36place now but it's not out of the blue by any stretch neither musk nor tesla responded to a

02:42request for comment the legal setbacks aren't a huge financial problem at least so far but a

02:49reputational one as they undercut musk's continued rhetoric about tesla being a leader in autonomous

02:54driving despite hard evidence to support it alphabets waymo which operates commercial robo taxis in five

03:02major u.s cities and is testing in 10 more has solidified its position as the dominant player in

03:08that space musk said on tesla's results call that the company will ultimately overtake waymo because

03:14its system is much cheaper though a robo taxi pilot tesla launched in austin in june with human safety

03:20drivers in the front seat suggests it has a long way to go to catch up bryant walker smith an av

03:28researcher and professor at the university of south carolina served as an expert witness for

03:33the california dmv in its case against tesla in july he said quote right now there are real robo taxis

03:41carrying real people on real roads none of them is a tesla smith who recently published a study

03:49comparing the performance of robo taxis operated by waymo in the u.s to those of tech giant baidu in china

03:55noted that the persistence of musk's unrealized self-driving targets is somewhat unique he said

04:02quote there were lots of overly optimistic claims in the early 2010s but other companies

04:08have either delivered on or tempered their claims for full coverage check out alan ownsman's piece

04:15on forbes.com this is kieran meadows from forbes thanks for tuning in

04:25this is kieran meadows from forbes.com

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