A new law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom officially restricts Tesla from marketing its electric vehicles in California as Full Self-Driving beginning in 2023, according to Tesla North.
“This bill increases consumer safety by requiring dealers and manufacturers that sell new passenger vehicles equipped with a semiautonomous driving assistance feature… to give a clear description of the functions and limitations of those features.”
Senate Transportation Committee Chair Lena Gonzalez
About Senate Bill 1398
Senate Bill 1398 specifically addresses Tesla’s software marketing in some of its cars, suggesting fully autonomous driving capabilities.
Notably, the newly passed law is sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Lena Gonzalez. The Senate Transportation Committee Chair claimed that Tesla misleads customers about its technology, which prompts a safety issue.
That said, the law bans California automakers and dealers from “deceptively naming or marketing” their products as “self-driving” when it still relies on human drivers to ensure safety.
The following are passages from the new law:
| “A dealer or manufacturer shall not sell any new passenger vehicle that is equipped with any partial driving automation feature or provide any software update or other vehicle upgrade that adds any partial driving automation feature, without, at the time of delivering or upgrading the vehicle, providing the buyer or owner with a distinct notice that provides the name of the feature and clearly describes the functions and limitations of the feature.” “A manufacturer or dealer shall not name any partial driving automation feature, or describe any partial driving automation feature in marketing materials, using language that implies or would otherwise lead a reasonable person to believe, that the feature allows the vehicle to function as an autonomous vehicle, as defined in Section 38750, or otherwise has functionality not actually included in the feature. A violation of this subdivision shall be considered a misleading advertisement for the purposes of Section 11713.” |
What triggers this law to be passed?
In California, autonomous vehicles are governed by the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The government agency has previously introduced policies prohibiting the deceptive promotion of self-driving cars.
However, Sen. Gonzalez declared the state legislators’ dissatisfaction with the DMV’s lack of enforcement of the said policies via the Los Angeles Times. It prompted them to advance the bill to codify the standards into state law.
It must be noted that Tesla has never asserted that its FSD was fully autonomous. In fact, it is in the process of preparing the key technologies needed to develop fully self-driving cars. That said, drivers must always be vigilant and prepared to take control when using FSD or Autopilot until Tesla’s vehicles are fully autonomous. The automaker actively explains these to its customers.
