A California judge rules that Tesla misled consumers on how autonomous its cars are

Tesla has 90 days to amend its advertising language or face a 30-day suspension from selling in California, Steve Gordon, the Director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles, said in a media briefing on Tuesday.

On November 21, Administrative Judge Juliet E. Cox made a proposed decision about whether Tesla has misled consumers into thinking its cars are more capable of driving themselves than they actually are, and transmitted it to the DMV for consideration. The document containing the proposal, however, has been withheld from the public and won't be released till December 22.

Gordon said during the Tuesday briefing that Cox recommended both a suspension of Tesla's license to sell and to manufacture in California. The DMV, however, decided not to pursue a suspension of the license to manufacture, and put a temporary 90-day stay on the suspension of the license to sell for Tesla to make amends.

The notice to Tesla follows a weeklong hearing in July at the administrative court in Oakland. In 2022, the DMV sued Tesla, accusing the car maker of misleading consumers through Tesla's advertisements and by naming its driver assistance technologies "Full Self-Driving" and "Autopilot."

Tesla's lawyers denied that the company had ever tried to conceal the fact that its vehicles cannot fully drive themselves.

The DMV sought to suspend Tesla's ability to sell cars in the state for at least 30 days and award consumers monetary damages.

The CA DMV wrote in its complaint that on multiple occasions in 2021 and 2022, Tesla's website advertised its FSD driver assistance system as being "designed to be able to conduct short and long-distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver's seat."

Tesla's lawyers said during the hearing that the company has always informed buyers that they "cannot fully rely" on FSD or Autopilot.

"Cars with Full Self-Driving capabilities are currently not capable of driving themselves," said Attorney Matthew Benedetto, a member of Tesla's legal team, during the hearing.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is a developing story; please check back for more.