Tesla sales in California must be suspended for 30 days because its marketing around Autopilot and full self-driving misled consumers, a California administrative law judge has ruled. In 2022, the California DMV accused the automaker of using misleading language to advertise those products and make it appear that its vehicles were capable of Level 5 autonomous driving. Tesla has since added the word “supervised” to the name of its full self-driving assistance technology.
As bloomberg Note, the DMV asked the administrative law judge whether a suspension was appropriate based on the evidence it presented. Even if the judge agrees, the agency will give Tesla 90 days to explain its side and remove any false or misleading language in marketing materials for the products. Tesla’s sales and manufacturing in California will only be suspended if it does not comply within that time frame.
“We’re really asking Tesla to do their part, as they have done in other markets, to properly brand these vehicles,” California DMV Director Steve Gordon said in a statement.
The suspension in California could be devastating for the automaker. While new Tesla registrations in the state declined earlier this year, Reuters says California accounts for about a third of the company’s sales in the country. Additionally, Tesla only manufactures its Model S and X vehicles at its Fremont plant, where it also produces Model 3 and Model Y units.
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