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Investing.com -- Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) must face a certified class action lawsuit by California drivers who claim Elon Musk misled them about the self-driving capabilities of the company’s electric vehicles over an eight-year period.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin approved the group lawsuit, allowing two sets of drivers who purchased Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology package to proceed collectively with their claims.
In her Monday decision, the San Francisco-based judge determined that the common question of whether Tesla lacked the necessary sensors to achieve high-level autonomy, plus its inability to "demonstrate a long-distance autonomous drive with any of its vehicles," justified the class action certification.
Judge Lin noted that thousands of people likely viewed Tesla’s claim in the "Autopilot" section of its website from October 2016 to August 2024 stating that its vehicles contained hardware for full self-driving capability.
The judge pointed out that Tesla made similar claims across multiple channels, including a blog post, newsletter, and quarterly earnings call. Musk himself made such claims during a 2016 press conference.
"While these channels alone may not ordinarily be enough to establish class-wide exposure for a traditional car manufacturer, Tesla’s distinctive advertising strategy warrants a departure from the typical approach," Lin wrote in her decision.
The judge also noted that Tesla does not use mass advertising or independent dealers, making it reasonable to infer that customers interested in Full Self-Driving technology would visit Tesla’s website for information.
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