Following a data leak, Tesla has been accused of neglecting customer complaints about potentially lethal faults in its Autopilot driver assistance system.
Thousands of documents shared with the German daily Handlesblatt by whistleblowers describe Tesla’s handling of collision investigations, in which customers stated their cars are “simply too dangerous for the road.”
The drivers cited in the leaks and reached out to by the publication accused Tesla of dismissing their concerns about its Autopilot feature.
The drivers cited in the leaks and reached out to by the publication accused Tesla of dismissing their concerns about its Autopilot feature.
Employees are allegedly given strict restrictions on how to respond to complaints, with some drivers stating that Tesla employees were instructed to avoid written correspondence in order to “offer as little attack surface as possible.” According to Handelsbatt.
The Autopilot software, released in 2015, is a collection of driver assistance and safety features like autonomous cruise control, lane guidance, and automatic braking.
Tesla has also introduced a more advanced “full self-driving” version of its technology in North America, under the orders of billionaire CEO Elon Musk.
Details of 2,400 complaints about automobiles speeding abruptly and 1,500 automatic braking problems – including 139 occurrences of accidental emergency braking and 383 “phantom stops” – were included in the files given with Handlesblatt.
According to one customer who complained about his car’s “phantom braking,” Tesla shown a “absolute lack of any concern given the seriousness of the security problems.”
More than 1,000 crashes were included in the released data.
Tesla’s lawyers claimed Handlesblatt had “stolen Tesla confidential information” that had been supplied by a “disgruntled ex-employee.”
A former employee “misused his access as a service technician to exfiltrate information in violation of his signed non-disclosure agreement, Tesla’s data management policies and practises, and EU and German law,” according to the firm.
Tesla has been reached for comment.
The publication stated that it was releasing the information since the data leak contained exceptional information of public importance.
Data protection officials in Brandenburg, Germany, and the Netherlands have been investigating the potential breach, which reportedly included personal information on thousands of Tesla employees.
Tesla’s internal procedures instructed employees to avoid writing down specific details about consumer concerns.
“Do not copy and paste the report below into an email, text message, or leave it in a voicemail to the customer,” one document stated.
Tesla is facing various legal claims in the United States related to deaths in which its Autopilot technology was purportedly active.
In one instance, the family of Gilberto Lopez, who was killed in a collision with a Tesla Model S in 2019, has filed a lawsuit against the driver and the firm. Despite having his Autopilot feature turned on, the driver allegedly did not stop at a red light or attempt to avoid Lopez’s Honda.
Tesla has stated that the accident was “in no way caused by Tesla’s actions or omissions.”
