London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 21, 2026

German court rules that Tesla misled consumers on Autopilot and Full Self Driving

German court rules that Tesla misled consumers on Autopilot and Full Self Driving

Tesla misled consumers on the abilities of its automated driving systems, a Munich court ruled on Tuesday. Tesla Germany is now banned from including “full potential for autonomous driving” and “Autopilot inclusive” in its advertising materials.
Tesla misled consumers on the abilities of its automated driving systems, a Munich court has ruled.

The Center for Protection Against Unfair Competition - a non-profit that filed the lawsuit - accused Tesla of promising customers more than it could actually deliver.

The court agreed with the fair competition watchdog, Wettbewerbszentrale, which is supported by industry associations, chambers and individual companies in several industries. They also banned Tesla Germany from including “full potential for autonomous driving” and “autopilot inclusive” in its advertising materials at this time, including on its website where it sells the cars.

Tesla can appeal the court ruling.

“A legal framework for autonomous inner-city driving doesn’t even exist yet in Germany,” Andreas Ottofuelling, a lawyer for the group, said in a press statement. “And other functions aren’t working yet as advertised.”

Tesla’s Autopilot is akin to the advanced driver-assistance systems featured in many cars on the market today. The Autopilot system helps the driver to automatically stay in their lane, and keep a safe distance from other vehicles, among other things. Autopilot is standard in Tesla vehicles today.

The electric car maker also sells a Full Self Driving package or “FSD” with more advanced features. In Germany, the company marketed its cars as “Autopilot inclusive,” with “full potential for autonomous driving.” Tesla vehicles, even those equipped with the company’s FSD package, require drivers to remain fully attentive, ready to take control of the car.

Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk have tried to describe and define “autonomous” in their own way.

Other automakers typically rely on the six levels of autonomous driving defined by SAE International to communicate about these emerging technologies. Level four automated driving, which allows a vehicle to perform all driving functions but only in certain conditions, is not yet sold by any automaker.

Musk started talking up the company’s Autopilot efforts in 2013. He said “generalized full autonomy” was in development in 2015. By 2016, Tesla told customers that all its cars in production would include full self-driving hardware. That hardware — known as Hardware 3.0 — did not arrive until the spring of 2019.

Although Tesla has been promising self-driving cars since 2016, it still hasn’t demonstrated the cross-country, hands-free drive Musk said would be possible by the end of 2017.

In April 2019, Musk said: “We expect to be feature complete in self-driving this year, and we expect to be confident enough from our standpoint to say that we think people do not need to touch the wheel and can look out the window sometime probably ... in the second quarter of next year.”

Musk said in a call with investors in May 2019 that Tesla expected to have 1 million vehicles on the road by the end of 2020 that are able to function as “robo-taxis.”

Tuesday’s ruling in Munich was not a surprise to Tesla. Last August, Musk tweeted: “We’re working with EU regulators to improve rules. Spirit of rules is correct, but exact language doesn’t quite align with spirit. Navigate on Autopilot working well in rest of world.”

Tesla competes with established German car brands such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche.

The company is aiming to build a manufacturing beachhead outside of Berlin. Estimates are that its planned Grünheide factory will employ 3,000-3,500 per shift (around 10,500-12,000 total) according to a July 11 report from the German auto trade magazine, Automobile Woche.

On Tuesday, Tesla’s stock price seemed unfazed by the court ruling, up by around 1.3% at midday New York time.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Bitcoin Surges Toward $80,000 as Short Squeeze and ETF Inflows Ignite Crypto Rally
Twenty-Nine US States Take Meta to Trial Over Alleged Child Addiction on Instagram and Facebook
Former Scottish National Party Executive Peter Murrell Jailed for Five Years Over £400,000 Embezzlement
Moderna and Merck's Personalized Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in Historic Late-Stage Melanoma Trial
Prince Harry and Meghan to Move Back to Britain With Their Children
England and Wales Have Fewer Than 1,800 Prison Places Left for Men
Royal Navy to Accelerate DragonFire Laser Deployment Against Growing Drone Threat
Northern Ireland Approves Five Hundred Million Pound Belfast Harbour Expansion
Great British Railways Takes Full Control of Avanti West Coast as Rail Nationalisation Reaches Final Stage
UK AI Safety Institute Calls for Mandatory Security Audits of Advanced AI Models
Scotland Secures Three Billion Pounds for Floating Offshore Wind Hub in Aberdeen
Government Overrides Local Councils to Approve Green Belt Housing Across Southern England
UK and EU Move Toward Mutual Recognition of Food Standards to Ease Cross-Channel Trade
Government Plans Multibillion-Pound Private Healthcare Expansion to Cut NHS Surgical Backlogs
Bank of England Signals Faster Rate Cuts as Inflation Falls Below the Two Percent Target
Suspected People Smuggler Arrested After Investigation Identified Him
Children's Doctors Warn That Vaping Can Lead Young People to Smoking
Hundreds of Thousands of Students Receive GCSE and Vocational Results Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Here Is What Can Never Happen in Your Country: Taiwan Is Giving Money to All Its People Because It Collected Too Much Tax
UK Inflation Rises to 2.9% as Energy Bills Jump
UK Issues New Conduct Guide for Asylum Seekers on Consent and Respect
Moderna Shares Surge After Positive Personalized Skin Cancer Trial Results
UK Markets Watch US National Debt Surpass Forty Trillion Dollars
UK Broadcasters Urge Government to Invest in Digital Participation and Broadband
CVC Capital Partners and Standard Life Launch Two Billion Pound Pension Risk Transfer Venture
UK Private Sector Productivity Growth Accelerates in Second Quarter
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband Condemns Israeli E1 Settlement Tender
UK Watchdog Investigates Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School Over Hidden Fees
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Plan Move to Private Home Outside London
UK Retail Sentiment Improves as Summer Spending Boosts Consumer Confidence
UK Aid Cuts Draw Warnings From Charities Over Humanitarian Consequences
UK Financial Conduct Authority Issues Guidance for Motor Finance Redress Scheme
UK Met Office Launches Aviation Programme to Reduce Climate Impact of Persistent Contrails
Former UK Civil Service Chief Received Record 500,000 Pound Severance Payment
West Midlands to Bring Bus Network Under Public Franchising Model
UK Government Drops Plan to Relax Affordable Housing Requirements After Backlash
UK Reaffirms Military Support for Ukraine Despite Russian Hybrid Warfare Threats
UK Technology Sector Expands Nearly 8 Percent as Digital Industry Outpaces Wider Economy
UK Drought Threatens Harvests Across England and Wales as Food Inflation Risks Persist
UK Government Pledges 442 Million Pounds to End Rough Sleeping by Christmas
UK Government Signals Willingness to Reconsider Digital Services Tax Amid US Tariff Threats
UK Inflation Rises to 2.9 Percent as Energy Costs Threaten Economic Recovery
NHS Hospitals Cancel Surgeries as Extreme Heat Pushes Ward Temperatures Above 40 Degrees Celsius
UK Heatwave Forces Emergency Measures as Wildfire Risk, Hospital Disruption and Drought Intensify
A Sleepless Night on Wall Street: Nasdaq to Begin Nearly Round-the-Clock Trading
"The First in the World": 69-Year-Old Protested Artificial Intelligence—and Went to Jail
Ukraine's Ousted Defence Minister Calls for Wartime Presidential Election
UK Marks Ten Years of Night Tube as London Weekend Usage Exceeds Eighty-One Thousand Journeys a Night
Met Office Issues Thunderstorm Warnings Across Northern Ireland Over Flash-Flood Risk
Frasers Group Raises Stake in Hugo Boss to Nearly Forty-Eight Percent
×