California Threatens to Ban Tesla Sales Over Car That’s Just Kinda Driving Itself
KEY POINTS
- •The California DMV ruled Tesla's marketing as deceptive on Tuesday, December 2025, in its largest U.S. market.
- •Tesla uses terms like 'Autopilot' and 'Full Self-Driving' which the DMV said violated state law on truthfulness.
- •Tesla has 60 days to fix this or face a 30-day sales suspension in California.
On an unforgettable Tuesday in December 2025, the California Department of Motor Vehicles dropped a polite but pointed reminder on Tesla, the electric car company that still insists its cars drive themselves despite all evidence to the contrary. The DMV ruled that calling Tesla's driver assist system 'Autopilot' and 'Full Self-Driving' is misleading and breaks California state law. They’ve given Tesla a generous 60 days to tone down its sci-fi branding before temporarily suspending their sales license in the biggest U.S. car market for a month. Tesla now faces the delightful challenge of defending how ‘full self-driving’ means mostly not full self-driving.
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Tesla's 'Full Self-Driving' sounds less like innovation and more like creativity with honesty. California wants truth in advertising, or else no cars for 30 days. High stakes for a car that apparently still needs you to pay attention — who knew?
Calling Tesla's 'Autopilot' as self-driving is like calling my toaster a smart home AI. Stop the marketing magic, please.
California DMV says Tesla's ads break rules. Elon’s next tweet: 'I was just testing your attention span!'
Source: Theverge | Published: 12/17/2025 | Author: Robert Hart
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