Plaintiffs in a new, proposed class-action suit against Tesla Inc. claim that Elon Musk's company made and advertised false claims about the autopilot and full self-driving (FSD) features on Tesla vehicles. The suit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, follows a series of complaints against Tesla filed by the California DMV saying the company made falsely inflated statements about the driver-assistance capabilities of Tesla vehicles.

The complaint alleges that, as early as 2016, Musk and Tesla Inc. were making claims that the autopilot and FSD features were "just around the corner" when the technologies were not ready and posed serious safety hazards to drivers and passengers. These statements, according to the complaint, were a marketing ploy to reel in buyers and investors and establish dominance in the electric vehicle market.

Of the allegedly defective technologies, Tesla has given warnings that both the Autopilot and the FSD features require a driver to remain fully attentive while the vehicle is in motion. But they have also said that vehicles in FSD mode will adhere to local traffic laws and traffic signals, while vehicles can accelerate, brake, and steer independently while in a traffic lane.