The California tech executive taking on Tesla

SACRAMENTO, Calif., — Robotaxis are under the microscope in California, but another type of automated driving system is still in play, and, as some see it, under the radar.

Tesla for years has offered an autopilot feature on its vehicles that it says enhances safety and convenience behind the wheel. It has also been the subject of private lawsuits and questions from state and federal officials about whether the safety features are sufficient to prevent serious harm.

Because it’s not a passenger service and not fully autonomous, Tesla’s self-driving technology isn’t subject to the same state regulation as services like Waymo and Cruise, which just had its permits pulled by the DMV over complaints about safety and accusations of misrepresenting reports.

That distinction between fully autonomous and driver-assisted technology has let Tesla’s self-driving technology fly under the radar, tech exec Dan O’Dowd argues, despite its reported involvement in more than a dozen fatalities and hundreds of crashes across the country.

"They're nowhere near the standards that self-driving cars are at, and yet they've done a wide release to everybody,” said O’Dowd, who is the founder and chief executive of Green Hills Software. “Tesla needs to be held to the same standards, because they're putting it on the road."

O’Dowd has spent years sparring publicly with CEO Elon Musk and Tesla, which defends its technology. He has called for the vehicles to be removed from public roads until a greater level of safety rigor can be met. Tesla’s missteps were the sole focus of O’Dowd’s 2022 California Senate bid, and the subject of a 30-second Super Bowl ad, which warned 115 million viewers that “Tesla’s Full Self-Driving is endangering the public.”

Now O’Dowd is taking California lawmakers on the road — showing them what he says are the failures of the system’s safety features and urging them to take action.

Rep. Salud Carbajal and state Sen. Monique Limón recently rode with O’Dowd on a demonstration of Tesla's Full Self-Driving technology — where the car failed to stop at several test points set up by O’Dowd’s team. At one point, the car ran over a child-sized mannequin.

Carbajal in a statement said the test was concerning and revealed a number of worrying defects. He said his office is examining “appropriate legislative action.”

Limón, who sits on the Senate transportation committee, said the ride showed fully autonomous vehicles have a long way to go.

“My team and I are monitoring any legislative options available to ensure that self-driving systems active on California's roads are made safe for public use,” she said in a statement.

Tesla lawyers have rebuffed O’Dowd’s accusations that its Full Self-Driving feature isn’t safe, sending him a cease-and-desist letter last year (that he ignored).

“The purported tests misuse and misrepresent the capabilities of Tesla’s technology,” the company’s lawyers wrote. “And disregard widely recognized testing performed by independent agencies as well as the experiences shared by our customers.”

Self-driving technology was the focus of a bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year that prohibits misleading marketing of semi-autonomous driving features, like the ones deployed by Tesla. The California DOJ has reportedly launched an investigation into Tesla over its autopilot safety and advertising, though a spokesperson said the department can’t confirm or deny a potential or ongoing investigation.

Tesla’s system is still considered to be driver assistance technology and is not covered by the DMV’s autonomous-vehicle regulations.

However, the department has launched an enforcement action against the company’s manufacturer and dealer licenses for allegedly misleading and false advertising regarding the use of the term “Full Self-Driving” and description of “Autopilot.”

A DMV spokesperson said the department can’t comment on pending enforcement actions. We also reached out to Tesla for a response and didn’t hear back.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is still in the midst of a yearslong investigation into Tesla after what it says was an accumulation of crashes in which Tesla vehicles, operating with Autopilot engaged, struck stationary in-road or roadside first responder vehicles.

Despite the agency actions, O’Dowd is still hoping for tougher guardrails out of Sacramento.

And with the growing concern around AI, he could end up getting them.

“We need something to make people safe," he said. "That's the job of the legislature — to pass reasonable safety rules."

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