Tesla under US criminal investigation over self-driving claims, sources say

Tesla is under criminal investigation in the United States over claims that the company's electric vehicles can drive themselves, three people familiar with the matter said. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) launched the previously undisclosed investigation last year following more than a dozen crashes, some of them fatal, involving Tesla's driver assistance system known as Autopilot, which was activated during the accidents, the people said. As early as 2016, Tesla's marketing materials have touted Autopilot's capabilities. On a conference call that year, Elon Musk, the Tesla chief executive, described it as "probably better" than a human driver. Last week, Musk said on another call Tesla would soon release an upgraded version of "full self-driving" software, allowing customers to travel "to your work, your friend's house, to the grocery store without you touching the wheel".