Tesla CEO Elon Musk is under scrutiny by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for his specific comments and efforts to promote the automaker’s claims of its “self-driving” capabilities. That reports Bloomberg. The SEC investigation into Musk is part of the overall effort to determine whether Tesla violated its rules in promoting its FSD and Autopilot offerings.
The SEC typically does not comment on pending investigations before formally filing a lawsuit, and has not commented on this case in particular. But recent revelations may explain why Musk is in the crosshairs when it comes to Tesla’s “self-driving” technology: Last week, testimony from a senior engineer on the Tesla team working on its Autopilot software revealed that a video showing the company released in 2016 that claimed to show that a self-driving Tesla car was in fact being staged. Reporting by Bloomberg later revealed that the video was controlled and directed by Musk himself.
Of course, the SEC’s domain isn’t safety claims, but it is a problem with publicly traded companies or company executives making forward-looking claims that are false or misleading. That’s apparently what they’re concerned about here – Musk has often suggested that FSD would achieve essentially rudderless navigation capabilities in timelines that ultimately turned out to be inaccurate.
Based on what the SEC determines after its investigation, we could see lawsuits or other consequences for Musk, including restrictions on his future activities as an officer of a publicly traded company if they choose to pursue enforcement of violations they find.