California Tells Tesla ‘Autopilot’ Means Human Must Still Parachute In
KEY POINTS
- •The California DMV Director Steve Gordon gave Tesla 90 days to change their 'Autopilot' name or face a sales suspension.
- •An administrative law judge recommended suspending Tesla’s license in November, but public details won't be out until December 22.
- •Tesla denies misleading buyers, but DMV says their ads implied cars could drive themselves without human input.
California’s DMV suddenly realized Tesla’s so-called ‘Autopilot’ is less 'pilot' and more 'please don’t crash me.' Director Steve Gordon gave Tesla 90 days to defang their misleading marketing or get booted from selling cars in the state for 30 days. This official slap follows an administrative judge’s November 21 proposal—buried from public eyes until December 22—that Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ sounds like a sci-fi pipe dream. The DMV sued Tesla in 2022, accusing them of tricking buyers into believing they could nap behind the wheel. Meanwhile, Tesla’s lawyers maintain they always warned buyers FSD isn’t actually 'full' self-driving—more like a roller coaster you must insistently hang on to. With Model Y holding the Q3 sales crown, California knows leverage pretty well and plans to use it to wrest Tesla into compliance—or at least an improved vocabulary.
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Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ is the world’s most expensive game of pretend, and California just called ‘time out’ after 90 days of marketing bravado.
When California says Tesla’s Autopilot needs a new name, it’s probably time for a name that includes ‘Human Still Required’.
Tesla selling cars with ‘Full Self-Driving’ when they mean ‘Full-Attention-Every-Second’ just shattered advertising ethics everywhere.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 12/17/2025 | Author: Katherine Li
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