After an advocacy group and Senate candidate claimed Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta “mows down children” in a campaign ad, the automaker has responded with a call for the videos to be taken down.
Tesla is demanding the Real Dawn Project and former anti-Tesla California Senate Candidate Dan O’Dowd remove a video of the EVs hitting children, as detailed in a report from The Washington Post.
The Post obtained a cease-and-desist letter from Tesla in which the automaker demanded the video be removed. Tesla accused the group of “unsafe and improper use” of FSD beta, saying “Your actions actually put consumers at risk.”
In the letter dated August 11, Tesla Deputy General Counsel Dinna Eskin wrote, “The purported tests misuse and misrepresent the capabilities of Tesla’s technology, and disregard widely recognized testing performed by independent agencies as well as the experiences shared by our customers.”
Tesla FSD Attacks Continue: Ralph Nader Wants NHTSA to Remove Feature https://t.co/Yr7KxThyTc
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) August 10, 2022
Following O’Dowd’s commercial, several Tesla fans and FSD beta testers came to the system’s defense, with many even creating tests of their own to disprove the video.
One rebuttal video to O’Dowd’s was flagged by CNBC and subsequently removed by YouTube. The video showed a Tesla testing the FSD beta with cardboard cutouts of a child.
Beyond his work with the Dawn Project, O’Dowd owns Green Hills Software, a company that builds operating systems for airplanes and cars — which could make him a potential competitor to Tesla’s FSD technology.
O’Dowd dismissed the Tesla order, saying “This letter is so pathetic in terms of whining: Mr. Free Speech Absolutist, just a crybaby hiding behind his lawyers,” referring to Elon Musk.
Speaking with the Post, O’Dowd says he will not take down the video ad, but will pledge more money into his anti-Tesla campaign.
The response from Tesla comes after Musk said he was hiring for a new “hardcore litigation department”, back in May. Musk at the time said his commitment would be for his legal team to never surrender or settle an unjust suit against the company, even if they are likely to lose.
