San Francisco: The controversy surrounding the safety of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software has intensified as the car maker has demanded that an advocacy group remove videos of its electric vehicles crashing into kid-sized dummies.
In a cease-and-desist letter sent to the Dawn Project, an anti-Tesla group fronted by software developer Dan O’Dowd, Tesla alleged the videos are defamatory and misrepresents the capabilities of its driver-assist technology, reports The Verge.
“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,” Dinna Eskin, senior director and deputy general counsel at Tesla, wrote in the letter.
“We demand that you immediately cease and desist further dissemination of all defamatory information, issue a formal public retraction within 24 hours and provide Tesla with the below-demanded documentation,” Eskin added.
The letter is in reaction to a Dawn Project advertising that allegedly depicts a Tesla car equipped with FSD software ramming a kid-sized mannequin at 20 mph.
This week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hit back at a Tesla customer after he slammed FSD beta on Twitter, saying that “unfortunately, I have to say, I’m still having to intervene to correct #FSDBeta 10.69 in my area. Still lots of work to go”.
Musk recently said the company will increase the price of its FSD software to $15,000 after its wide release.
The new price will go into effect in North America, starting September 5.
–IANS