Tesla avoids California sales ban by removing 'autopilot' from marketing

The Guardian 

Tesla avoids California sales ban by removing'autopilot' from marketing Tesla will avoid a 30-day suspension of its dealer and manufacturer licenses in California, its biggest market, after the US electric vehicle maker stopped using the term "autopilot" in the marketing of its vehicles in the state. Tesla now uses the term "supervised" in references to its full self-driving technology and has stopped using "autopilot" entirely in its marketing in the state. State regulators said Tuesday that Tesla had stopped misleading drivers about the safety of its cars, and so the state will not suspend its state sales license for 30 days, as had been threatened. The decision by the California department of motor vehicles comes after CEO Elon Musk's electric vehicle company was found by an administrative law judge last year to have misled drivers about the ability of Tesla cars to drive themselves in its use of the terms "autopilot" and "full self-driving". In 2022, the DMV had accused Tesla of misleading consumers by using "autopilot" and "full self-driving" for its advanced driver-assistance features.