Musk faces SEC investigation over Tesla’s self-driving promotion

Musk

Phoenix Net Technology News Beijing time on January 28th, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Elon Musk (Elon Musk) in shaping Tesla’s self-driving car statement. It’s the latest effort by the SEC to scrutinize the behavior of the world’s second-richest man. China’s new car-making forces have also “downgraded” in the promotion of autonomous driving technology in recent years.

The scrutiny of Musk is part of the SEC’s investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot claims, people familiar with the matter said. The person was discussing undisclosed elements of the investigation. According to SEC regulations, as the CEO of Tesla, the authenticity of Musk’s remarks is of special importance. The SEC declined to comment. Musk and his lawyer, Alex Spiro, did not respond to requests for comment.

Musk has clashed with the SEC on several fronts. Still, the SEC’s review of Autopilot directly touches on a business priority that Musk sees as critical to Tesla’s future.

SEC officials are weighing whether Musk made inappropriate forward-looking statements, the people said. Investigations by the agency’s law enforcement arm do not necessarily lead to consequences, but could lead to lawsuits, fines or other civil penalties for companies and executives. It was not immediately possible to determine which of Musk’s statements or activities about Autopilot caught the SEC’s attention.

Tesla’s assisted-driving technology has been a focus of Musk’s attention for years. He personally directed the production of a 2016 video that may have exaggerated the capabilities of Tesla’s assisted-driving technology. The eventual fully-autonomous, hands-free driving feature promised in the video has yet to materialize.

However, the video is still kept on Tesla’s official website . There is even a slogan at the beginning of the video saying that “the reason why the driver is still sitting in the driver’s seat is only because of legal requirements, and he actually did nothing. , the car is fully autonomous.”

After the demonstration video went live, Musk also reposted it on Twitter with the text: “Tesla can drive autonomously from city streets to highways, back to streets, and finally without human intervention.” Find a parking space and park automatically.”

China’s new car-making forces have also caused controversy in the promotion of autonomous driving technology. In 2021, after the tragic death of the owner of the Weilai ES8 due to the use of assisted driving technology, Ideal’s official website adjusted its promotion of assisted driving technology to “ideal AD assisted driving system” and deleted the word “advanced”. Xiaopeng Motors changed the “XPILOT3.5 automatic driving assistance system” to “XPILOT3.5 intelligent driving assistance system”.

Tesla shares surged 11% on Friday, extending their gains for the year to 44% on optimism that the worst is over for the electric carmaker. Tesla shares have fallen 65% in the last year, in part because of concerns that Musk would be distracted by the Twitter acquisition. Musk is currently worth $155.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. (Author/Xiao Yu)

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