Tesla Engineer Says Company Staged Self-Driving Demonstration Video

Jan. 19, 2023 3:11 PM ET byJay Traugott Electric Vehicles /4 Comments

The video, promoted by Musk on Twitter, was made in 2016 and remains archived on the automaker's website.

A senior Tesla engineer testified in a deposition last July that the automaker promoted its self-driving technology in a staged 2016 video. The video was then shared on Twitter by CEO Elon Musk. It remains archived on Tesla's official website.

According to aReutersreport, Ashok Elluswamy, director of Autopilot software at Tesla, acknowledged this during a deposition as part of a lawsuit against the automaker following a fatal 2018 crash that involved a former Apple engineer.

The victim, 37-year-old Walter Huang, had just dropped his two young children off at school in hisModel Xwhen the vehiclecollided with a highway barrierwhileAutopilotwas engaged. His family sued both Tesla and the state of California for wrongful death.

Elluswamy's testimony, not made public until now, is the first time a Tesla employee has admitted how the video was produced. Equally important is why it was created and released.

视频的标语说:“体育rson in the driver's seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is driving itself."

What could be very damaging for Musk and Tesla is that Elluswamy said the video was made at Musk's request as a "demonstration of the system's capabilities." Despite the video's claims, Tesla maintains that drivers using Autopilot must always keep both hands on the wheel, prepared to assume control at a moment's notice. Autopilot, along with the controversialFull Self-Driving Betatechnology, carries a Level 2 autonomy rating. Level 5, which does not yet exist, allows for zero human involvement.

Elluswamy further stated that Tesla used 3D mapping on a predetermined route from a home in Menlo Park, California, to the carmaker's then headquarters in Palo Alto. Drivers even intervened to assume control during test runs, he added.

Even more troubling is when the video's demo Model X failed to park itself sans driver, it crashed into a fence. "The intent of the video was not to accurately portray what was available for customers in 2016. It was to portray what was possible to build into the system," Elluswamy said.

Musk, meanwhile, had this to say when he shared the video on Twitter: "Tesla drives itself (no human input at all) thru urban streets to highway to streets, then finds a parking spot."

The engineer, still employed at Tesla, also admitted that drivers could "fool the system" by making the software think they were paying attention based on steering wheel feedback. There were, however, no safety issues if drivers did pay attention, Elluswamy said.

AnNHTSA investigationinto Huang's deadly crash determined it was caused by his being distracted and Autopilot limitations.