Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

September 2-California lawmakers passed a new bill in the Senate on Tuesday, local time, banning Tesla from including words such as "autopilot" in advertisements for driver-assisted driving systems. The legislation was initiated by Lena Gonzalez, chairman of the California Senate Transportation Committee, and now requires Governor Gavin Newsom to sign it into law.

Tesla has been peddling driver-assisted driving systems called "Autopilot" and "fully autopilot" (FSD) since 2016. Judging from the name, it is easy to think that these systems include functions that make the car fully self-driving. However, this is not the case. At present, no car that can be bought by consumers can be fully self-driving. The California Motor vehicle Administration has issued rules banning manufacturers from making false advertisements when cars cannot drive on their own. But the agency has never enforced these rules.

Today, California's legislature is clearly dissatisfied with the status quo and is legislating beyond the DMV. The legislation initiated by Gonzalez was passed by the California Senate on Tuesday night and is now being submitted to Governor Newsom for signature.

Gonzalez said false advertisements for autopilot technology could cause serious safety problems, with at least a few deaths related to Tesla's auxiliary driving system, Autopilot. Gonzalez said she and other lawmakers were puzzled by the slow response of the California Motor vehicle Administration to Tesla's false advertising campaign. "are we just waiting for someone else to be killed in California?" she asked.

The California Motor vehicle Administration did not comment on the bill, and its head, Steve Gordon, has refused to discuss the issue with the media since he took office in 2019.

It is not clear how many crashes or casualties may have involved Autopilot and FSD. Although Tesla's car is full of microcomputers that can collect and process large amounts of data that can communicate with manufacturers through cellular and Wi-Fi connections, Tesla has always refused to release such data to regulators or security researchers. Regulators are starting to put more pressure on them. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTS) is conducting a number of investigations into Tesla's safety record, including several cases in which Tesla's car crashed into an emergency vehicle parked on the side of the road.

Recently, NHTSA ordered Tesla to provide him with detailed data on crashes that may involve his auxiliary driving system. It is not clear how effective the new legislature will be, as law enforcement is still in the hands of the California Motor vehicle Administration. "California has banned misleading propaganda about self-driving cars," said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina. "however, the passage of this bill will certainly provide more legal basis for law enforcement agencies, which may have great significance for California administrative agencies or judges."

In fact, as the possibility of the Gonzalez Act becoming formal law became more and more obvious, the California Motor vehicle Administration filed an administrative lawsuit against Tesla on July 22 over false propaganda. Since May 2021, the agency has been reviewing the issue of false propaganda. In a July document, the California Motor vehicle Administration pointed out that if Tesla is found to have violated the rules, it has the right to disqualify Tesla from selling or manufacturing cars in California. However, the process may take at least a few months.

In early August, the California Motor vehicle Administration will ask Tesla to advertise to consumers to clarify and better educate Tesla drivers about their Autopilot and FSD functions, including warning about their limitations and taking other appropriate actions against violations. This may affect Tesla's use of words like "autopilot", but the California Motor vehicle Administration is reluctant to discuss the possibility. "Californians think that 'fully autopilot' is full autopilot, but this is obviously not the case," Gonzalez said. "

The new bill does not address the security of the technology itself, but rather its marketing and advertising. Tesla said in a small font on his website and instructions that human drivers must stay focused, whether using the Autopilot with adaptive cruise control and automatic lane change, or the beta version of FSD, which automatically obeys traffic rules when navigating on planned routes.

Gonzalez said other automakers are selling similar driving assistance technology, but all clearly explain the limitations of the technology. "GM, Ford, BMW, Mercedes and other companies are doing the right thing to clarify the limitations of assisted driving technology, except Tesla," she said. "

In addition to banning false advertising, the Gonzalez Act also puts forward new requirements for automakers to clearly explain the capabilities and limitations of some automation technologies when delivering new cars and updating software.

A 2018 survey by the AAA Traffic Safety Foundation found that 40% of car owners who bought driver-assisted driving systems such as Autopilot thought the car could drive on its own. "asking dealers to clarify the limitations of automation technology will help bridge the knowledge gap in this area," said Amanda Gualderama, head of government affairs at the Southern California Automobile Club, who supports the bill.

Gonzalez said she had contacted several car companies and the American Automobile Association about the wording of the bill. In the process of legislation, they encountered strong opposition from Tesla, who believed that false advertising had been banned by the California Motor vehicle Administration. But ads have been around for six years on the company's website, social media accounts and public speeches by chief executive Elon Musk. Musk recently tweeted that Tesla would increase the price of his FSD system from $12000 to $15000.

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