Tesla has actually threatened to take legal action against Dan O’ Dowd, the CEO of Green Hills Software and The Dawn Project, after he produced and spent for a nationwide television advertising campaign revealing a Tesla lorry slaughtering a kid-sized mannequin on a closed test track. The advertisement states the lorry had actually engaged the car manufacturer’s sophisticated driver-assistance system, branded “Full Self-Driving.”
In a cease-and-desist letter, Tesla stated this intriguing advertisement totaled up to “misinformation about Tesla” that the “purported tests” in the advertisement “misuse and misrepresent the capabilities of Tesla’s technology,” which O’Dowd’s “testing is seriously deceptive and likely fraudulent.”
The Dawn Project project went liveAug 9, according to a tweet from O’Dowd
O’Dowd tells the advertisement himself, stating: “A hundred thousand Tesla drivers are already using Full Self-Driving on public roads. I’m Dan O’Dowd. I’m a safety engineer. And Tesla Full Self-Driving is the worst commercial software I’ve ever seen — tell Congress to shut it down.”
A representative for O’Dowd informed CNBC he invested “seven figures” and the commercial was “airing on hundreds of TV stations reaching over 60% of households in America.”
O’Dowd, who is CEO of both Green Hills Software and The Dawn Project, informed CNBC that the latter is an independently held, tech-safety and security education organization. His main organization, Green Hills Software, makes items which are utilized by direct rivals of Tesla consisting of Ford and Toyota.
In its cease-and-desist message, Tesla stated: “It has come to our attention that you, personally, and The Dawn Project have been disparaging Tesla’s commercial interests and disseminating defamatory information to the public regarding the capabilities of Tesla’s Full Self Driving (FSD) (Beta) technology.”
Tesla then required that The Dawn Project eliminate the “Test Track” videos, provide a public retraction, divulge financing for the tests and business produced by the Dawn Project, and to state whether any regulative firms backed The Dawn Project’s method or outcomes for its tests.
The Washington Post initially reported on the cease-and-desist letter, which was likewise gotten by CNBC.
The Dawn Project’s advertisements were extensively slammed. Tesla critics said the videos stopped working to recognize major security problems with the driver-assistance systems, while Tesla fans stated the test motorist appeared to abuse the system to guarantee it would hit the kid-sized mannequin.
After the television advertisement headed out, some Tesla fans and investors created their own FSD Beta security tests to show the vehicles would prevent striking kids. They employed their own kids for these presentations and published videos to YouTube, which later on identified the videos broke their “harmful content” policies, and eliminated them.
On Wednesday, Tesla CEO Musk said in a tweet, “Early beta has many known issues. The reason we release it to a limited number of cars is to discover unknown issues.”
On Thursday, Musk tweeted that O’Dowd is “bats— crazy,” utilizing emoji to communicate the insult.
O’Dowd stated in a call with CNBC on Thursday, “I don’t care what he calls me. When is he going to acknowledge and fix the bugs that are in their system? These problems have been demonstrated. What he should do now is to disable FSD.”
Tesla markets its driver-assistance systems in the U.S. in tiers.
Autopilot is the basic offering delivered in all brand-new Tesla lorries. Tesla offers a premium choice called Full Self-Driving (or FSD) for $12,000 or $199 each month. The cost for FSD is set to increase to $15,000 inSeptember
The car manufacturer enables some chauffeurs access to a program called Full Self-Driving Beta if they obtain a high rating on the business’s in-vehicle test. None of these systems make Tesla vehicles self-governing, or safe to utilize without a chauffeur behind the guiding wheel, prepared to brake and mindful to the roadway at all times. Tesla owner’s handbooks warn chauffeurs that the systems do not make their vehicles self-driving.
The California DMV has actually declared that Tesla participates in incorrect marketing where its driver-assistance systems are worried.
The federal lorry security regulative company, NHTSA, has numerous examinations in progress examining the security of Tesla’s driver-assistance systems from Autopilot to FSD and FSD Beta.
