Tesla No Longer 'Full Self-driving'? New California Law Prohibits Car Autonomy Marketing

A new California law effectively bans Elon Musk's Tesla company from advertising its electric vehicles as 'full self-driving'.

Tesla has long asserted that their vehicles are compatible with a system known as Full Self-Driving. However, the company has yet to demonstrate that its vehicles are capable of making safe autonomous driving.

Now, a new California law may be a new obstacle to Tesla's Full Self-Driving marketing. Although Tesla is not the only manufacturer of vehicles with driving assistance, it is the one that has garnered the most media attention.

Recently, Tesla has been the subject of controversial headlines in various legal cases and investigations involving its advanced driver assistance system following multiple noteworthy crashes employing the technology.

New California Law Prohibits Ful Car Autonomy Marketing

Although the California Department of Motor Vehicles already had regulations prohibiting misleading advertising regarding autonomous vehicles, the bill's author claimed that the agency's lax enforcement led lawmakers to take action.

The newly passed bill would prevent manufacturers or dealers from misleading marketing of self-driving features. According to Gizmodo, California Gov. Gavin Newsome approved Senate Bill 1398, which addresses the electric car manufacturer's promotion of software features in some vehicles.

According to California Legislative Information's official site, the new law will officially take effect on Jan. 1, 2023, which reads:

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.

Drivers are also instructed always to pay attention to the road and be ready to grab the wheel at any time, regardless of the capabilities of the software.

How Will This Affect Tesla's EV Marketing?

Considering that the law is effective in California, it remains unclear how this will affect a business like Tesla, which, as of December 2021, has its headquarters in Austin, Texas. Notably, however, the company still produces cars at its Fremont, California factory.

According to Daily Mail, Tesla had expressed their disagreement against the bill, arguing that it puts them at a disadvantage as it will make customers aware of their EV technology's limitations.

Tesla owners in the US are required to have a safety score of at least 80 and must pay an additional $15,000 for complete self-driving software. However, a recent incident has put the company under fire involving two passengers who were driven using Tesla's self-driving software and were rushed to the hospital, while 16 others were being treated at the scene for injuries, according to CNN.

Additionally, two further special crash investigations have been conducted into Tesla crashes where the full self-driving is believed to have been a contributing factor have been launched by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).