• by Fern Siegel , December 27, 2022

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law forbidding Tesla from advertising its vehicles as full self-driving.

The new law calls out "deceptively naming or marketing" a car as self-driving when it only has partial automation features and human drivers are still necessary.

Senate Bill 1398"increases consumer safety by requiring dealers and manufacturers that sell new passenger vehicles equipped with a semi-autonomous driving assistance feature... to give a clear description of the functions and limitations of those features," stated Democratic State Sen. Lena Gonzalez.

Twitter owner Elon Musk also owns Tesla. He lobbied against the bill, saying Tesla buyers are apprised of the software’s limits.

Tesla drivers filed a class-action lawsuit in San Francisco federal court against the company in September, claiming the auto maker had falsely advertised its self-driving software since its launch in 2016.