Tesla continues to be in the crosshairs of government investigations as the automaker has revealed the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is looking into them.
In a 10-K SEC filing, Tesla has a section dedicated to “Certain Investigations and Other Matters.” In it, the company revealed they have “received requests from the DOJ for documents related to Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD [Full-Self Driving] features.”
Tesla didn’t go into specifics, but said “To our knowledge, no government agency in any ongoing investigation has concluded that any wrongdoing occurred.” However, they noted “should the government decide to pursue an enforcement action, there exists the possibility of a material adverse impact on our business, results of operation, prospects, cash flows and financial position.”
Also: SEC Launches Probe Into Elon Musk’s Autopilot Claims
It’s not immediately clear what the DOJ is looking into, but the document request comes hot on the heels of another reported investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In that case, the SEC is said to be looking at possible misleading claims and inappropriate forward-looking statements.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Tesla’s director of Autopilot software was recently forced to admit 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.”
While the video looked impressive, things were far worse behind the scenes as the route was reportedly mapped before hand and even that didn’t stop the vehicle from crashing into a fence. Furthermore, Ashok Elluswamy confirmed the video didn’t reflect the true capabilities of Autopilot at the time and was instead only showing “what was possible to build into the system.” Tesla didn’t make that clear at the time and that decision is now coming back to haunt them.
H/T to AP
