Elon Musk oversaw staged 2016 Autopilot video that promoted self-driving tech trends now
Elon Musk oversaw a staged 2016 Autopilot video that promoted Tesla's self-driving technology that the system did not have, such as knowing when to stop and go at traffic lights, according to internal emails viewed by Bloomberg.
The controversial video that remains published on Tesla's website was pushed by Musk to convince consumers the car can drive itself.
In a revealed email from Musk to the Autopilot team in October 2016, the billionaire echoed the importance of the demonstrative video to persuade interest in the self-driving car, according to Bloomberg.
'Just want to be absolutely clear that everyone’s top priority is achieving an amazing Autopilot demo drive,' Musk told the Autopilot team at the time. 'I will be telling the world that this is what the car *will* be able to do. Not that it can do this upon receipt.'
Musk later changed the goal of the video to emphasize that the car was ready to self-drive once delivered despite the technology not being available.
Elon Musk directed Tesla's staged 2016 self-driving demonstration, emails reveal. Musk's goal of the video was initially to show what Tesla will be able to do it
A 2016 video Tesla used to promote its self-driving technology was staged to show capabilities like stopping at a red light and accelerating at a green light. The system did not have those capabilities, when the video was released
Tesla's 'self-driving' system doesn't appear to work how it was initially advertised with the video message that 'the person in the driver's seat is only there for legal reasons' and 'the car is driving itself.'
Musk reportedly created the message for the video after insisting the demo was to show consumers the future of Tesla.
The Twitter CEO worked days in 2016 with the Auto Pilot team to launch the video and asked that each worker logged what they did to help make a successful demo, according to the news outlet.
The company continues to warn drivers with the self-driving option to keep their hands on the wheel in case anything unexpected occurs.
On Tesla's website, Autopilot is advertised as the 'future of driving' and informs the feature 'enables your car to steer, accelerate and brake automatically within its lane under your active supervision, assisting with the most burdensome parts of driving.'
Lawsuits have since been launched against Tesla with attorneys using the
