A few years ago, Nikola was forced to admit a promotional video was staged after Hindenburg Research alleged the company brought a non-running truck to Utah and let it roll down a hill.
That seriously undermined the company, but they weren’t the only ones faking it. Quite the opposite as Tesla’s director of Autopilot software has acknowledged a video released in 2016 was staged, despite the clip proclaiming “the person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons” and is “not doing anything” as the “car is driving itself.”
According to Reuters, Ashok Elluswamy revealed the ruse in a deposition as part of a lawsuit involving a fatal crash. As he reportedly explained, “Tesla used 3D mapping on a predetermined route from a house in Menlo Park, California, to Tesla’s then-headquarters in Palo Alto.” Even then, things didn’t go according to plan as drivers reportedly had to intervene during test runs. Even worse, a test vehicle reportedly “crashed into a fence in Tesla’s parking lot.”
Needless to say, those misadventures didn’t make it into the video and the clip didn’t include any warnings or disclaimers. Furthermore, Elluswamy was forced to admit the video didn’t reflect the true capabilities of Autopilot at the time. However, he said the “intent of the video was not to accurately portray what was available for customers in 2016. It was to portray what was possible to build into the system.”
However, as Reuters pointed out, Elon Musk tweeted “Tesla drives itself (no human input at all) thru urban streets to highway to streets, then finds a parking spot.”
News that the video was staged to show capabilities that the crossover didn’t have will likely prove damaging as it reinforces the idea that Tesla attempts to oversell the capabilities of Autopilot and Full Self-Driving. Despite the latter suggesting fully autonomous capabilities, the company’s fine print notes it is “intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment.” Tesla also says “the currently enabled features do not make the vehicle autonomous.”