Tesla’s FSD (Full Self Driving) is a perpetual lie by Elon Musk.
Please note California DMV files lawsuit against Tesla over self-driving capabilities
California regulators have once again claimed that Tesla misled consumers about the capabilities of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software. We’ve heard this one argued in courts before, and typically, Tesla comes away victorious. However, it’s back on the docket in California, and this time, it’s more than just a slap on the wrist at stake.
The argument is simple: the California Department of Motor Vehicles says that Tesla’s marketing made both software stacks sound like the car would let you prop your feet up and take a nap while the vehicle drove you to your destination.
Tesla has argued in filings that the company’s remarks in dispute are protected free speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution. Lawyers for the company also say the marketing statements cited by the DMV have been taken out of context and that [the] regulator is failing to consider Tesla’s warnings and disclosures about the systems.
The problem for Tesla is that its tech, both Autopilot and FSD, are Level 2 driver assistance systems. Tesla even admitted to the California DMV in 2021 that even its final release of Autosteer for City Streets would remain a Level 2 system. And claims made between 2021 and 2022 are the DMV’s key argument.
If the courts find that Tesla did mislead consumers, the company could be in some trouble. The DMV is out for blood and is seeking to suspend or revoke the automaker’s dealer license for up to 30 days. That means the single state responsible for a third of the brand’s U.S. demand could go dark for an entire month in a time when sales are already hurting over political issues caused by the company’s CEO.
Musk Is a Liar
Musk says that false advertising is free speech.
Maybe his argument that false advertising is OK holds up again in court. But it also says loud and clear that Musk is liar.
Road and Track View
Road and Track Link: Tesla’s follow-through on certain claims hasn’t always been the most timely nor accurate. The Cybertruck was delayed by two years, the second-generation Roadster hasn’t joined the all-electric party after half a decade of teasers, and we’ve yet to see the sub-$30,000 Tesla that CEO Elon Musk has long promised.
Regulators in California began investigating the semi-autonomous driving technology in 2021 and issued two formal administrative charges in the Office of Administrative Hearings for falsely implying its vehicles were fully autonomous. Now, according to Ward’s Auto, the California DMV is seeking to order a 30-day stop sale on Tesla models in California.
Tesla’s defensive position has focused on disclaimers attached to the Full Self-Driving and Autopilot functions that state “active human supervision” is required. [Then it’s not FSD is it?]
Other arguments include the fact that Tesla was granted “implicit” permission to use the two monikers by the State of California and that limiting its ability to advertise with certain terms is actually a violation of its first amendment right to free speech.
Judge Juliet Cox, an administrative law judge with the California Office of Administrative Hearings in Oakland, hasn’t bought into some of these arguments. Cox initially denied Tesla’s motion to dismiss the case in June 2024, stating that the DMV has established its case with sufficient evidence. A federal, class action lawsuit related to false advertising has also been allowed to move forward, indicating a degree of legitimate legal precedent for the courts to at least hear the cases.
The potential legal implications for Tesla are serious — though the automaker could challenge the DMV’s decision in California’s Supreme Court and request a stay of enforcement during the appeal — but the more pressing fallout could revolve around its sales figures. The first half of the year has not been kind to Tesla’s bottom line, as deliveries fell 13.5% globally in the second quarter of 2025. Tesla’s positioning in California isn’t in great shape, either, with registration figures for the all-electric models falling 21.1% in the last quarter. That’s the seventh consecutive quarterly registration drop for Tesla in the state.
But it’s not just traditional sales figures that are cause for concern. Tesla will soon run its regulatory credit scheme dry, as the Trump Administration prepares to change provisions of the tailpipe emissions credits that Tesla regularly sold to other automakers. In short, Tesla earned these regulatory credits en masse thanks to being an all-electric automaker and then turned around and sold them to automakers like General Motors, aiding more traditional brands in fulfilling their Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements. ICE-intensive brands would be obligated to buy these credits in order to avoid fines from federal agencies for CAFE non-compliance, but new legislation introduced by the Trump administration will change that.
Robotaxi Expansion to San Francisco
FSD Crash Data
The Cybertruck is the New Edsel
Tesla used to brag about millions of reservations and dozens of celebrities and influencers wanting one. Now, it doesn’t even want you to know that the Cybertruck still exists.
A Delusional $20 Trillion Valuation
FSD in Practice
Sure you can find hundreds of glowing reports, like this one.
GeoFencing
Tesla FSD suddenly swerves off the road, crashes into tree and rolls the car. Driver had hands in his lap, couldn’t react in time, lucky to be alive.
A Fan
The problem with these anecdotes is they only show the point of view someone wants you to see.
Like this.
The second problem is despite the ludicrous name, FSD requires someone at the wheel, which Musk admits.
Is 99% Good Enough?
“Don’t be fooled by posts showing videos of perfect intervention-free rides. Once I get a few miles away from my home, FSD works exceptionally well 99+ % of the time. But that is nowhere near the safety profile we need for nationwide unsupervised FSD, which Elon promised in 2025.”
Oops Wrong Way
Another Wrong Side of the Road
Wrong Side of the Road in Mexico City
Wrong Side of the Road in Austin FSD Test
Wrong Side of the Road with No Attempt to Correct
Tesla said they will also expand its geofence to include the entire Bay Area, from Sausalito and Berkeley down to Los Gatos. This is allowed in a non-autonomous vehicle under the company’s CPUC-issued TCP permit.
Is Tesla Launching Uber?
Can You Fool Self-Driving?
Play the video. It’s hilarious.
Motor Trend Tests Tesla’s FSD, Tesla Flunks 3 Ways, Funny Videos
On July 20, I posted Motor Trend Tests Tesla’s FSD, Tesla Flunks 3 Ways, Funny Videos
Tesla’s FSD is not ready for prime time and won’t be without LIDAR.
99 percent of the time it’s OK. That’s not good enough.
There are serious issues in rain, fog, and special situations. And FSD has trouble understanding which side of the road to drive on.
So, you drove 1,000 miles with no interventions. Would you bet your life by sleeping in the back seat next time?
Unless and util FSD reaches level-4 autonomy, you would be an idiot to try.
Related Posts
June 1, 2025: Waymo Surges to 10 Million Paid Rides, Tesla Has Zero
Hello Elon Musk, you are now 10 million rides behind Waymo.
Tesla now offers FSD (cough cough) rides in a tiny section of Austin. But Tesla has a remote backup driver.
In contrast, Waymo vehicles do not have a backup driver. Waymo’s core service, Waymo One, operates fully autonomous vehicles in designated areas.
Waymo removed its backup drivers in August of 2022.
For realistic comparison purposes, Tesla is still sitting at zero autonomous rides.
July 23, 2025 The Detroit Automakers Are Upset With Trump’s Japan Trade Deal
The deal will lower tariffs on car imports from Japan to 15% from 25%.
I never give GM any credit because they suck. That said, they were smart enough to call their tech ‘supercruise’ to avoid this utter nonsense Musk has been selling.
Last week a food delivery robot crossed the other side of the intersection from me, while stopped at the light. Mid way, it had a motion hiccup, then stopped a few feet short of the curb. When the light changed it still sat there, blocking a car, which was able to maneuver around it. Kept glancing in my side view mirror, and it finally moved onto the sidewalk maybe 10 seconds later.
I knew there would be problems for Tesla when they named this driver’s aid “Autopilot”. That one word has caused a multitude of supposedly intelligent drivers to recklessly risk their lives & those of other drivers.
Marketing is free speech if it is factually truthful. But fraud (and various things of its ilk, misleading statement) is not free speech. Statements of opinion in general are not factual, and are free speech. Statements about the future in general are statements of opinion, but fraudulent representations about the future are different. This creates a tricky conceptual-legal boundary in things like Silicon Valley tech-type pitches made to, say, venture capital investors, because a catchy vision of a future that doesn’t currently exist is understood as part of that game. But representations to consumers are usually treated differently.
I just drove 7,850 miles across the country and back. Half of that was done by an autopilot system known as my son, who’s learning to drive. I can tell you that monitoring a driving system (as one is supposed to do in a Tesla) is much more exhausting than driving oneself. One must not only be fully focused on the road and conditions, but also anticipate far enough ahead to give warning and take charge if need be. Plus, its a whole extra layer of stress to be fully focused on the road but be not in control.
Thus, an automated driver assist system as in a Tesla would end up being much worse in any situation than simply turning it off and driving oneself — if one follows Tesla directions. Mostly, people expect to kick back and relax, and videos of people asleep while their Tesla cruises down the road have been around a while.
Thanks
I am not surprise.
Its funny how people hide behind the free speech. You may be able and have the right to say something. Does not mean you should or not be responsible for the consequences. In this case a lot of lawsuits for false advertising resulting in death.
It’s funny how the first amendment is not for hiding behind free speech deemed hateful. Practicing free speech should not result in a hate crime enhancement for a murder, especially in a failed state with a teeming death row of killers that rarely executes one every twenty years while the rest do life until parole resulting in more murders those elites like Gavin get to hide from in their gated estates with well armed guards in gun free zones teeming with unarmed victims. . .
Shooting people is speech?
Used to be so, back when the First Amendment was codified. It was known as ‘the Duel’. Go ahead and say what you want, but someone might have to die for it. The free speech part of the First amendment had to do with being able to criticize government policy, not spread lies or slander. Those were not protected by law, but by a well-known and understood moral code.
Another round of performative distraction, lies and sloppiness
“I just signed the largest trade deal in history, I think maybe the largest deal in history, with Japan,” Trump boasted Tuesday. But a new report from The Financial Times demonstrates that U.S. and Japanese officials don’t see eye to eye on what exactly the countries agreed upon.
According to Trump and his administration, in return for a reduction in tariffs, Japan would invest $550 billion in certain U.S. sectors and give the United States 90 percent of the profits.
But Japanese officials say profit sharing under the agreement isn’t so set in stone: A Friday slideshow presentation in Japan’s Cabinet Office, contra the White House, said profit distribution would be “based on the degree of contribution and risk taken by each party,” per The Financial Times.
The FT also reports conflicting messages between Washington and Tokyo as to whether that $550 billion commitment is, as team Trump sees it, a guarantee or, as Japan’s negotiator Ryosei Akazawa sees it, an upper limit and not “a target or commitment.”
Mireya Solís, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told The Financial Times that the deal contains “nothing inspiring,” as “both sides made promises that we can’t be sure will be kept” and “there are no guarantees on what the actual level of investments from Japan will be.”
The inconsistent interpretations of the deal could possibly be owing to the fact that it was hastily pulled together over the course of an hour and 10 minutes between Trump and Akazawa on Tuesday, according to the FT, which cited “officials familiar with the U.S.-Japan talks.” And, moreover, “Japanese officials said there was no written agreement with Washington—and no legally binding one would be drawn up.”
Some are thus beginning to wonder whether Trump’s avowed “largest deal in history” even technically counts as a deal at all. Brad Setser, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote on X: “If something like this is not ‘papered’ it isn’t really a deal.”
Level 2 Self Driving is fundamentally a dangerous zone of “self driving”. Most companies have been quite cautious in implementing this. Tesla not so much, as supposedly it is a tech company, not a car company. Really it is less safe than Level 1 but might allow you to watch TV while you drive at the risk of death.
Level 3 is really where self driving starts. Several manufacturers have stepped into this realm but no Tesla. But really you can’t start watching TV etc until Level 4.
Tesla, which anticipates competing against other corporations like Waymo that are moving into the self-driving field, is an aggressive player in a tight market. Despite the good points about its self-driving software, people won’t trust it until it is at least an order of magnitude superior to normal human drivers, whose predilection is to trust someone or something that at least as a survival instinct.
Elon Musk sounds like he’s recharged his batteries with the little DOGE governmental vacation where he got to slash agency payrolls almost to his satisfaction. Now that he’s rarin’ to go, he might want to decide which of the companies he manages — Tesla, SpaceX, the AI venture, Neuralink — deserve his full attention.
As long as he shortchanges certain of his companies with his time, his empire as a whole will continue to suffer.
=-=-=
Dark . Sport. Blog is my website for more intellectual, amusing side thoughts… Visit it today
“Good drunk car” – classified used car ads a half century ago. Usually some rusted battleship for less than $1000.
Tesla apparently is not even that.
Tesla is actively making driving more dangerous, especially for non-Tesla drivers. This means war.
Tesla should be banned forever and Elon in jail.
This reminds me of Campbell soup. They had to change their jingle from “…soup is good food.” to “…soup tastes good.” after someone sued the company claiming the soup was not good for you because it was loaded with salt, even though the salt content was accurately disclosed.
meanwhile I am still waiting for my Elon Musk 5.000 DOGE rebate ck Missouri U.S. Senator Josh Hawley announced Friday that he plans to introduce legislation that would “send a rebate check to every working person in America.”
Hawley’s comments follow remarks from U.S. President Donald Trump, who said Friday that his administration is considering a new round of tax rebates for U.S. taxpayers that would presumably be funded by revenue generated from tariffs.
Thought the tariffs were to balance the budget and pay off the debit. If your just gonna give the money back why have the tariffs at all
You can just type into Google “Waymo robotaxi problems” for a more balanced view of the self-driving tech. For a fair comparison, you have to prorate it for the number of cars using the respective technology.
Based on that, and the number of human error accidents, I would just stick to the horse buggy.
I just read a very interesting article on Tesla FSD Robo-taxi by Phil Beisel @pbeisel on x.com. He points out several features of Tesla’s FSD that are incorporated in the auto-taxi version of the software used in the Austin initial start that is worth reading. One, while Tesla does not have nor plan to have LiDAR onboard each vehicle, LiDAR is used on about a dozen Robo-taxis in Austin to obtain data for calibration of optical cameras and train/optimize software. He goes into the engineering behind the decision to stick with optical cameras and not incorporate LiDAR in each vehicle. I am even more of the opinion not to count out Tesla as a future viable competitor in the FSD market after the reading.
The crash data needs more perspective to be meaningful. The ratio of crashes per vehicle needs to be compared to how many crashes occurred with human drivers in control per vehicle and it would not hurt to have hours and miles considered as well. One car was in an oncoming lane so FSD should be banned? Seems like something needs fixed, not banned, at least not yet. I am curious as to the perfection that Waymo accomplished on their first kick at the cat, or was the critical press just silent and we were never appraised of their issues?
As for California, they have a beef with Musk for moving Tesla’s headquarters out of California, building infrastructure anywhere but California and being supportive of Trump for a while at least. Therefore, I take the punitive posture by their DMV with a grain of salt. As for all the seeming excitement over technology shortfalls detailed in the post, one has to be careful as those tests are not with the updated software as it is still not available for them to test. Once again, I believe there is an underlying desire for Tesla FSD to fail by many for whatever reason.
I would like to see an American entrepreneur be successful, though I do not have a horse in this race. I also do not want America to create an environment where potentially breakthrough economic technology has to be perfect on its first iteration.
He’s not an American.
According to Wikipedia, he became a US citizen in 2002.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk
See end of second paragraph.
I dont know if i would go as far as saying ca has an axe to grind with musk. Maybe since his business left he just does not the political pull he once had.
Any car which lets your mind and hands wonder but you need to be read to retake control is dangerous. Imo
“Would you bet your life by sleeping in the back seat next time?”
That’s an awfully high standard, Mish. I would not do that even in a human-driven Uber for fear of rape or my organs being harvested.
But as you said, Musk has ‘beaten’ this rap several times already because FSD is not the same as “unsupervised” – which Tesla posts everywhere (especially in the legalese).
And I’m not sure why you have such a problem (even after reading this and other of your posts on Tesla) with the name FSD. If you can put in an address into the system and the car drives you there itself hands-free with no problems 99% of the time (your number from above), I would imagine that would fit the definition of Full Self Driving for most people.
Should that fit the bill for robo-taxis with paying customers? I don’t think so either, but currently FSD is for personal consumers only – many of which were probably posting Facebook pics while they were driving their pre-Testa vehicle.
I would trust a Waymo.
Ive made several trip to sf recently. Waymo seems like the only safe vehicles on the rd in a state of bad drivers.
Thank God we don’t have self driving trucks. Those would hurt.
Likely only as much as the human-driven ones.
>not even arguing that the claims of lying are incorrect, just arguing that it’s ok to lie to consumers
Did they find this legal team on Craigslist?
It works for cable news networks, why not here?
😉
Difference is in precedent. A ruling favoring Tesla would imply Bayer could claim Tylenol cures cancer. Good luck convincing any judge that centuries of court room precedent on deceitful products is moot here.
They should just rename FSD to “Autocrash” and declare victory.
Musk – They loved him for Tesla EVs for years. He bought Twitter and they no longer loved him. They being California/the Left/MSM/Big G Government.
He’s been wrong about FSD forever, nothing new there. I would never trust it and never ride in a self-driving car, not just for safety concerns but because of motion sickness when not driving.
His relentless-idea-generating genius nature means he’ll hit and miss on some ideas/concepts/companies. No one bats 1.000. SpaceX is bang on the go-to for space needs. He’ll get to Mars, for God knows what purpose. He restored free speech in time for 2022/2024 elections and we enjoy TWTR as a result.
He is what he is. It’s okay to pick and choose features of people, political parties/platforms that we like and those we do not like. i.e. Musk doesn’t always lie. But like Bill Gates selling vaporware for years and then delivering a lot of good products or Jobs’ at Apple or Bezos at Amazon….they don’t hit on everything, often lose money, and usually rely upon subsidies or government contracts or monopoly power to stay in the race long enough to make something big and useful.
Tesla has always been one overvalued stock which produced cars most purchasers like, not for FSD cars.
Ah yes how can we forget mr. Genius’s many other ideas such as:
SpaceX! The self exploding rocket maker propped up by the government money you’re moaning about! And who can forget about twitter? The now nearly empty husk with a holocaust denying AI calling itself “mecha Hitler”.
Truly this is the work of a man who will be remembered as much more than a very divorced loser whose children won’t show up to his funeral. A man whose actually successful father said of him: “He deserved to be pushed down the stairs.” Just a few more government tax breaks and bottomless checks and maybe his cars will have batteries that don’t turn into a thermite bomb after a minor accident (by stealing the technology the Chinese have had mandatory in EVs for years now).
Space X–the entity the government gladly turned the satellite business over to…the space station to. Starlink, doing what government couldn’t deliver to rural America in a timely fashion despite billions. If you ignore Space X’s success (amidst failures, same as NASA before it), then you’re a fool. Gun to head–I need something put in space…what vendor you goin’ to? NASA? Sorry, they outta that business now. SpaceX, check. Betting you loved Musk prior to 2022.
Part of the reason nasa is so expensive is the rocket parts are made in every state so they get the budget.
In theory you want to keep some operations in the government. Remember when musk cut service to Ukraine.
Here’s a great question: if it’s all private companies, why do I pay them taxes?
The answer is corporate socialism till we look like China, but who doesn’t want to be turned into a Chinese factory worker?
You mean the satellite we were asking Russia for lifts to? Yeah real world power stuff, I’m sure JFK would be elated lol. And why should the government be delivering internet to anyone? We’re not Russia, that’s on ATT, Charter, and freeloading states who refused to pay for infrastructure. You’re just proving my point that America is a joke in areas we used to own. Find me a state without good internet that’s not raking in a ton of government aid because they can’t even build a road that works.
As for liking Musk, why would I ever? He’s always been a clown who’s only skill is selling morons on something he bought out and ran into the ground (see his tunneling company). First he sold his crap to stupid California hipsters trying to save the world by strip mining lithium, then he wheeled around and fleeced the only group dumber than them into buying electric cars to… Own the libs? I’ll give him this, he’s the greatest shuckster to ever walk this fine nation of idiots and the people who love to scam them. The fact that people still hang on to him after his cars became a joke and our space program even more of one is as sure a sign as any that we won’t be competing with China in any capacity now that our little hedgemoney rolled over.
Does he get credit for appropriating the name of a remarkable genius to get his car company off the ground? That was certainly a wise move, whomever decided to do that.
Oh yeah like I said in my other comment. He’s the best ever to play the shuckster game. It takes real chutzpah to scam hippie dippie Californians into being one of the biggest vapor car companies ever, then go and convince Billy Bob and his sister wives to buy a Tesla to own the crybaby libs who made his company.
Voters may halt current California Government over exaggerated better quality of life claims.
waymo is all over city i used to live in.
Austin?
phoenix
i also lived in oakland and saw waymos around SF. i enjoyed the ferry best from my oakland waterfront hood to SF embarcadaro
And?
fun to see and ride in. everyone seems to enjoy them.