Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) demands that a safety advocacy organization take down videos showing its cars running over children’s dummies whenever the driver assistant system is engaged. The electric car maker has dubbed the videos “misleading” and “defamatory.”
Dawn Project dubs Tesla’s Full Self-Driving tech dangerous
According to the Dawn Project, the “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) technology that Tesla refers to could be dangerous, which has increased regulatory and public scrutiny of the tech with a national TV advertising campaign.
As per one of the advocacy group’s videos, it asserts, “Tell Congress to Shut it Down,” and a Tesla car is seen driving over props that are the size of children.
The Dawn Project, as well as its founder, according to a cease-and-desist notice from Tesla dated August 11, “have been insulting Tesla’s business interests and communicating libelous information to the people. The Dawn Project made the letter public on Thursday last week.
The demonstrations in the clips are “likely fake,” according to Tesla, and mischaracterize the potential of Tesla’s tech, which is why the company threatened to take legal action.
US safety watchdog investigating Tesla’s autopilot tech
After several accidents, the American safety watchdog has intensified its investigations into Tesla’s Autopilot technology.
The business claimed that whenever properly employed, its “FSD Beta,” a beta version of their new autonomous driving software used by a small population of customers, does detect pedestrians, even children, and the technology reacts to avoid or minimize an accident.
Dan O’Dowd, a Californian software businessman and opponent of Tesla’s FSD technology who had previously run for United States Senate, launched The Dawn Project. The Dawn Project referred to Tesla’s letter as “commercial hype” and said their testing is justifiable and not deceiving.
In other developments, the electric car maker has shortened delivery times for the rear-wheel Model Ys to four weeks for cars manufactured in China. The company had previously reduced the waiting time for Model Y cars to between four and eight weeks in China as it increased output.
