In its defense, Tesla lawyers said that "mere failure to realize a long-term, aspirational goal is not fraud." That argument is contained in a motion to dismiss the case that was filed last week in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The main plaintiff is Briggs Matsko, a resident of Rancho Murieta, Calif. If the case goes forward, it could lead to deposition of Tesla employees who helped develop the technology and reveal what Musk knew and didn't know about its true capabilities when he made numerous forecasts over the years -- including the prediction that there would be a million Tesla robotaxis on the road by the end of 2020, that customers could make $30,000 a year hiring them out, and that their cars would appreciate in value. Tesla lawyers are attempting to prevent that information from going public.

Tesla's Full Self-Driving technology may be a failure, Tesla lawyers admit -- but it's not a fraud. The electric car company is facing a class-action lawsuit from Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology customers. They claim they were ripped off, duped by statements from co-founder and CEO Elon Musk and marketing materials from Tesla over the past six years suggesting full-fledged autonomous driving was imminent. No Tesla on the road today is capable of full self driving, and yet Tesla sells what it calls a Full Self-Driving Capability for $15,000. In its defense, Tesla lawyers said that "mere failure to realize a long-term, aspirational goal is not fraud."

Tesla sued a former employee Wednesday for allegedly hacking the automaker's computer systems and stealing company secrets, shedding light on what chief Elon Musk had suggested was the work of a secretive internal saboteur. Tesla attorneys wrote in their lawsuit that Martin Tripp, a former technician at the company's Gigafactory battery plant in Nevada, wrote software to aid in an elaborate theft of several gigabytes of confidential data, including photos and video of Tesla's manufacturing systems. The firm's attorneys said Tripp worked at Tesla from October to last week, when company investigators confronted him with evidence. Tripp, attorneys wrote, also gave journalists false information about the company, including claims that defective batteries had been used in Tesla's Model 3 sedans. The court file did not name an attorney for Tripp, who could not be located.