Tesla ordered to cease “deceptive commercial practices” over autopilot in France

The French government has ordered the local arm of American electric vehicle (EV) giant Tesla to “cease its deceptive commercial practices” within four months or face a hefty daily fine of €50,000.

Amongst the issues identified was the alleged “deceptive marketing practices regarding the fully autonomous driving capability of Tesla vehicles”.

The order follows the release by France’s General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes, or DG CCRF), last week of the results of an investigation carried out between 2023 and 2024 into Tesla France.

The investigation, initiated following multiple consumer complaints, found that Tesla had committed a wide array of “failings and offenses prejudicial to consumers and contrary to the law”, most notably the company’s marketing around its Autopilot advanced driver-assist system.

Other practices identified by the CCRF as “prejudicial to consumers and contrary to the law” included delays in refunding cancelled orders, incomplete sales contracts, and a failure to provide enough information regarding delivery methods and locations.

Tesla France must now comply with the relevant national regulations within four months.

In particular, given what the CCRF deems as “the particular seriousness of the practice,” if Tesla France does not cease its misleading marketing around the functionality of its Autopilot technology by the end of the four months, the company will face a penalty payment of €50,000 per day of delay, or around $A90,000.

The context of the CCRF’s claims appear to refer to the company’s Support article on its French website addressing “Autopilot and Fully Self-Driving Capability” (Autopilot et Capacité de conduite entièrement autonome in French).

As of writing, and confirmed by previously dated iterations of the website, the page refers several times to “Capacité de conduite entièrement autonome”, which translates in English to either “Fully autonomous driving capability” or “Fully Self-Driving Capability”, depending on the context.

While the Support page also explains that all three driver assist technologies, Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot, and Full Self-Driving Capability, “are designed for use by an alert driver whose hands are on the wheel and who is ready to take control of the vehicle at any time”, it also adds that “they do not currently make the vehicle autonomous.”

Tesla appears not to have yet replied to media requests for comment on the order, but given the number of issues highlighted by the CCRF, the company has a lot of work ahead of it.

Full list of issues identified by the CCRF’s investigation:

• Sales contracts without a date or time limit or place of delivery of the vehicle and not mentioning payment on credit
• Payments required before the end of the withdrawal period from which the consumer benefits when financing his purchase with an assigned credit
• Absence of receipt valid as receipt in the event of partial payment in cash
• Deceptive marketing practices regarding the fully autonomous driving capability of TESLA vehicles, the availability of certain options, and vehicle trade-in offers
• Failure to reimburse within the time limits for orders for which consumers have exercised their right of withdrawal
• Lack of prior information on the delivery methods and in particular its location