Tesla is taking aim at a political advocacy group that this month published a number of videos allegedly showing the EV brand’s vehicles, with their Full Self-Drive (FSD) Beta program activated, running down small dummies dressed up as children. Because, yeah, that ain’t good for business.
The videos in question were produced by the Dawn Project, headed up by self-proclaimed billionaire and software developer – and one-time California senate candidate – Dan O’Dowd.
Here’s the first of the videos we’re talking about, launched as a U.S. national TV ad campaign with the goal of getting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to ban Tesla’s Full Self-Driving program, which enables vehicles with the program activated to autonomously change lanes, steer, and navigate through city streets without driver input or intervention.
Our new safety test of @ElonMusk’s Full Self-Driving Teslas discovered that they will indiscriminately mow down children.
Today @RealDawnProject launches a nationwide TV ad campaign demanding @NHTSAgov ban Full Self-Driving until @ElonMusk proves it won’t mow down children. pic.twitter.com/i5Jtb38GjH— Dan O’Dowd (@RealDanODowd) August 9, 2022
Released earlier this month, the video kicked up a storm of commentary online, with many a fanboy coming to Musk’s defence and claiming that the FSD program wasn’t actually activated in the video, causing the Dawn Project to produce more videos showing more angles and details. (You can dig into the saga a bit more in Driving’s most recent Lorraine Explains column here.)
The last hope of fanboys that FSD doesn’t mow down kids in crosswalks was that the warnings on our Tesla were because the driver was pressing accelerator.
Good news, he wasn’t pressing the accelerator, we found out what the warnings were. HD video: https://t.co/5TOj0eLkhr— Dan O’Dowd (@RealDanODowd) August 23, 2022
In response to the clips, Tesla’s senior director and deputy general counsel (a.k.a. big-bad boss lawyer) Dinna Eskin sent the Dawn Project a cease-and-desist letter calling the footage misrepresentative and defamatory.
“It has come to our attention that you, personally, and the Dawn Project have been disparaging Tesla’s commercial interests and disseminating defamatory information to the public regarding the capabilities of Tesla’s Full Self Driving (FSD) (Beta) technology,” The Washington Post quotes Eskin in the just-uncovered letter. “We demand that you immediately cease and desist further dissemination of all defamatory information, issue a formal public retraction within 24 hours and provide Tesla with the below demanded documentation.”
Eskin goes on to say the videos “portray unsafe and improper use of FSD Beta and active safety features,” and that the group’s actions “actually put consumers at risk.”
But, based on the fact that the letter is dated August 11 and the Dawn Project has yet to remove the videos, O’Dowd appears to be calling Tesla’s bluff and positing the EV maker was just posturing in legalese in an attempt to scare the safety faction away from its mission.
Master Scammer Musk threatens to sue me over a tv ad.Turns out Mr Free Speech Absolutist is just another crybaby hiding behind his lawyer’s skirt.Guess I hurt his wittle feewings.
Now the coward @elonmusk lashes out, sending pawns to fight his fight.https://t.co/Sbawi2rmDI pic.twitter.com/VZ7cMQR4AO— Dan O’Dowd (@RealDanODowd) August 25, 2022
“This letter is so pathetic in terms of whining: Mr. Free Speech Absolutist, just a crybaby hiding behind his lawyers,” O’Dowd said in an interview with the Post. O’Dowd has so far stood his ground, saying he will not remove the videos and will in fact be putting more money toward exposing Tesla’s software as unsafe.
What do you make of this battle of billionaires? Will the NHTSA get involved and issue a recall over the software that O’Dowd reminds “has a critical malfunction every 8 minutes”? Or will Musk do what Musk does best and beat the haters back one Tweet at a time?
Keyword: Tesla threatens legal action over videos of cars striking child-sized dummies