Photo: ANP
Tesla wants a group of activists who flipped the automaker’s self-driving system to take offline a video of its cars crashing into the baby-like dolls. That business newspaper The Washington Post reports. Tesla believes the videos are “defamatory” and does not depict its more advanced self-driving car system.
The business newspaper is based on a letter complaining about Tesla about an advertisement by Project Dawn, a group that strongly opposes the program that allows Tesla cars to drive without a real driver. Tesla and CEO Elon Musk could not immediately be reached for comment.
In the video, Teslas appears to be driving over dummies at a speed of more than 30 kilometers per hour. The cars will use self-driving software. The ad calls for a ban on the use of self-driving technology. The software is currently being tested by about 100,000 motorists on public roads in Canada and the United States, among others.
Meanwhile, the working group’s video led to a storm of indignation, including among Tesla fans. They think the video has been tampered with. In response, some of them made videos of themselves in which they tried to show that the program actually worked. Some of them also use real babies.
Behind The Dawn Project is tech entrepreneur and billionaire Dan O’Dowd. He is the CEO of Green Hills Software, which makes operating systems for aircraft and cars. This could make it a competitor to Tesla. O’Dowd said he’s now going after Tesla because the software isn’t secure enough and should be banned. O’Dowd has already said that he will not remove the ad.
The system has been criticized for some time because it is not completely self-driving and requires constant supervision. Regulators investigating the system have already urged users not to use real children to prove the safety of the self-driving car program.
