According to a confession from Ashok Elluswamy, director of Autopilot software at Tesla; a 2016 video used by Tesla to advertise its self-driving technology was scripted to show functionality such as halting at a red light and speeding up at a green light that the system did not have.<\/p>\n
In 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted a link to the video, which reveals a Tesla driving and parking itself, maneuvering, and obeying red and green lights. The video begins with a message that states that “the person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons” and that “he is not doing anything. “The car is driving on its own.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThe intent of the video was not to accurately portray what was available for customers in 2016,\u201d Elluswamy reportedly said in the transcript of a July deposition taken as evidence in a lawsuit against Tesla for a 2018 fatal crash involving a former Apple engineer. \u201cIt was to portray what was possible to build into the system.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his last journey, the deceased was said to be playing a mobile phone game and did not interact with the steering wheel for six seconds before impact. According to National Transportation Safety Board crash investigators, his Tesla accelerated from about 100km\/h to about 114km\/h shortly before impact.<\/p>\n
Elluswamy confirmed in his testimony that Tesla created the video using 3D mapping on a predetermined route. He also stated that Tesla repeated the run and that the test drivers intervened on several occasions.<\/p>\n