Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto )

A Florida judge, Reid Scott, has ruled that there's "reasonable evidence" to conclude that Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk knew of defects in Autopilot systems and failed to fix them. Testimony from Tesla engineers and internal documents showed that Musk was "intimately involved" in Tesla's Autopilot program and "acutely aware" of a sometimes-fatal defect—where Autopilot repeatedly fails to detect cross traffic, Scott wrote.

"Knowing that the Autopilot system had previously failed, had limitations" and, according to one Tesla Autopilot systems engineer, "had not been modified, Tesla still permitted the 'Autopilot' system to be engaged on roads that encountered areas of cross traffic," Scott wrote.

Because a jury could perhaps consider that a "conscious disregard or indifference to the life" of Tesla drivers, Scott granted a motion to seek punitive damages to Kim Banner, whose husband Jeremy was killed in 2019 when his "Model 3 drove under the trailer of an 18-wheeler big rig truck that had turned onto the road, shearing off the Tesla's roof," Reuters reported. Autopilot allegedly failed to warn Jeremy or respond in any way that could have avoided the collision, like braking or steering the vehicle out of danger, Banner's complaint said.

Enlarge (credit: Thomas Trutschel / Contributor | Photothek )

The United States Department of Justice is investigating Tesla after a Reuters report revealed in July that the EV maker secretly created a team to divert customer complaints because it had grossly exaggerated its vehicles' driving range . Reuters' source confirmed that "the directive to present the optimistic range estimates came from Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk."

The driving range was so far below company estimates that many customers assumed their cars were defective. Three customers launched a class-action suit, alleging fraud and false advertising. This mounting backlash over Tesla's overly optimistic driving range estimates came at a tense time for Tesla following an unsuccessful launch of Tesla's Full Self Driving (FSD) Beta—a feature deemed so dangerous that Tesla had to recall 362,758 cars —and a criminal investigation into its Autopilot claims .

The DOJ appears to now be probing all of Tesla's recent missteps. According to a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing from Tesla on Monday, the DOJ has sent requests for information and subpoenaed Tesla for documents related to Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD features, as well as documents "regarding certain matters associated with personal benefits, related parties, vehicle range, and personnel decisions."

Enlarge / Could 2023 be the year we finally see these on the road? (credit: Tesla)

Tesla is selling plenty of electric vehicles these days , thanks in large part to a string of heavy price cuts this year . But those sales haven't translated to higher profits, according to Tesla's Q1 2023 financial results . In fact, net income dropped 24 percent year on year. Earnings per share fell by nearly as much, down 23 percent to $0.73 per share.

The seemingly never-ending price cuts did not help, but they weren't the only cause. Tesla says that many of its costs—raw materials, commodities, logistics, and warranties—have gone up, and trying to increase production of its new 4680 lithium-ion battery cell has not been cheap. It's also making less money from selling regulatory credits—just $564 million this quarter compared to $679 million this time last year. Free cash flow fell 80 percent from Q1 2022 to $441 million.

It wasn't all bad news for the automaker. Its automotive revenues grew 18 percent compared to Q1 2022, and total revenue increased by 24 percent to $23.3 billion. It was a good quarter for Tesla's battery storage and solar operations. These grew revenue by 148 percent year on year, deploying 40 MW of photovoltaics and 3.9 TWh of energy storage—a 360 percent increase compared to the 846 GWh of batteries it shipped in Q1 2022.

Enlarge / If you own a Tesla with FSD Beta, there's a recall in your future. (credit: Tesla)

On Thursday Tesla had to issue a recall for nearly 363,000 of its electric vehicles. At issue is the company's highly controversial "Full Self Driving" Beta, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration believes is dangerous.

NHTSA has four principal complaints with the driver-assistance system:

The FSD Beta system may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution.

Additionally, NHTSA says that "the system may respond insufficiently to changes in posted speed limits or not adequately account for the driver's adjustment of the vehicle's speed to exceed posted speed limits."

Enlarge / Tesla's camera-only approach to driver assistance keeps landing it in trouble. (credit: Aurich Lawson | Tesla)

An eight-car collision on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 24) is now being blamed on Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) assistance system. The crash took place in the Bay Area in California on I-80 and left one person hospitalized and eight others with minor injuries.

According to Reuters , a California Highway Patrol report on the incident says that a Tesla Model S traveling on I-80 at 55 mph crossed several lanes of traffic and then slowed abruptly to just 20 mph, at which point it triggered the crash as other cars still traveling at highway speed had no chance to avoid the slow-moving electric vehicle.

Reuters says that the driver blamed the crash on the controversial "Full Self-Driving" system, which he claimed "malfunctioned but police were unable to determine if the software was in operation or if his statement was accurate."

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Tesla | Airplane!)

Tesla's controversial Autopilot driver assist might have just gotten even more controversial. According to Reuters , the company has been under federal criminal investigation since 2021 for misleading people about Autopilot's capabilities. It's the latest in a string of state and federal investigations, coming at a time when the automaker is removing more sensors from the cars while increasing the price of its "full self-driving" (FSD) feature.

The safety of Tesla's electric vehicles has been repeatedly extolled by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who claimed his EVs are the safest cars on sale. However, those claims have been challenged by regulators such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as well as by collated crash data .

Now, Reuters reports that "Justice Department prosecutors in Washington and San Francisco are examining whether Tesla misled consumers, investors and regulators by making unsupported claims about its driver assistance technology's capabilities," the sources said.

Enlarge / Elon Musk said in June that without autonomous driving technology, Tesla is "worth basically nothing."

Tesla went into the weekend with a fresh pair of headaches. On Friday, the Associated Press reported that the federal government is investigating whether or not the company's Autopilot system can safely recognize motorcyclists after a pair of fatal crashes in July. And the Los Angeles Times reported that California is unhappy with the way the automaker has advertised its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving driver assist technologies.

Can Autopilot see motorbikes at night?

The first fatal crash occurred in the early hours of July 7 in Riverside, California, when a Tesla Model Y on State Route 91 hit a motorcycle from behind, killing its rider. The second fatal motorcycle crash occurred on July 24, again at night, this time on I-15 outside Draper, Utah. In that case, a Tesla Model 3 was driving behind a motorcycle and hit it, killing the rider.

The AP reports that the California Highway Patrol is still investigating whether Autopilot was active in the first crash, but the driver in Utah admitted he was using the hands-free driver assist at the time of his accident.