A California administrative law judge on Tuesday ruled that Tesla used deceptive wording when it promoted Autopilot and Full Self-Driving.
The judge said the company should face a 30-day suspension of its license to sell cars in the state, along with a separate 30-day suspension of its manufacturing license, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
The DMV’s director Steve Gordon said in a briefing that the agency will give the company 90 days to change or remove any wording that could mislead drivers. He said, “The company must adjust this language so buyers know what the systems can and cannot do.” Steve added that the DMV will delay the manufacturing penalty for now so factories in the state can keep running.
California orders Tesla to correct Autopilot claims
In 2022, the DMV said the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving marketing made cars sound fully automatic. The systems needed someone alert behind the wheel. Since then, the company changed the name of its premium system to Full Self-Driving (Supervised).
The ruling landed on the same day the stock closed at a record.Wall Street pushed the price up as excitement grew around plans for Robotaxis.Shares jumped 3.1% to $489.88, which beat the earlier record close of $479.86.
The stock had dropped 36% in the first quarter, its worst fall since 2022, but it climbed back and is now up 21% for the year. The earlier intraday high was $488.54.
With the price surge, the market cap reached $1.63 trillion, placing the company seventh among public firms. It now sits behind Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta, and just above Broadcom.
Elon Musk’s net worth rose to about $684 billion, according to Forbes. That puts Musk more than $430 billion ahead of Larry Page, who ranks second on the list.
The state said it will move ahead with the penalties if the wording is not fixed by the deadline. The order says the sales penalty will go forward even if the company appeals. Gordon said the goal is to be sure drivers understand the limits of the systems as they exist today.
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