Tesla CEO Elon Musk is under scrutiny by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over his comments and specific efforts to promote the automaker’s claims about his “driving” capabilities. autonomous “, Bloomberg reports. The SEC’s investigation into Musk is part of its overall effort to determine whether Tesla broke its rules in promoting its FSD and Autopilot offering.
The SEC does not generally comment on ongoing investigations before formally filing a complaint and has not commented on this particular case. But recent revelations may explain why Musk is in their sights when it comes to Tesla’s “self-driving” tech: Last week, testimony from a senior Tesla team engineer working on its Autopilot software surfaced. revealed that a video released by the company in 2016 claiming to show a self-driving Tesla vehicle was actually staged. Report by Bloomberg later revealed that the video was supervised and directed by Musk himself..
Of course, the SEC’s domain is not safety claims, but it does oppose public companies or corporate executives who make forward-looking claims that are false or misleading. That’s apparently what’s on their mind here — Musk has often suggested that FSD will achieve essentially driverless navigation capabilities in a timeframe that hasn’t proven to be accurate.
Based on what the SEC determines as a result of its investigation, we could see lawsuits or other consequences for Musk, including limitations on his future activity as an executive of a public company if they choose to pursue enforcement of any violations they find.