On March 30, a German court ordered Tesla to buy back the Model 3 electric car from the owner of a car owner who was recently unhappy with the advanced driver assistance system FSD on Tesla’s electric cars. The owner complained that he was very disappointed with the FSD package, including the Autopilot function, and that he felt that the electric car with the FSD package activated was like a “drunk driving novice driver”.
Tesla’s FSD kit is starting to run into more and more resistance. Tesla claims that all of its electric cars since 2016 are equipped with hardware that enables full self-driving capabilities. If consumers pay an extra $12,000 for an FSD fully self-driving kit when they buy an electric car, they can also get corresponding software updates in the future.
Six years later, Tesla’s self-driving vision has not become a reality. In order to make car owners feel value for money, Tesla has added a number of other features related to the Autopilot advanced driver assistance system in the FSD suite, such as adaptive cruise Navigate on Autopilot, automatic lane change, automatic parking and automatic calling car and other functions. But in the European market, Tesla faces a much more complicated situation, because local regulations affect the realization and effect of some functions.
Some Tesla owners have filed claims in court because the FSD kits they paid for didn’t live up to expectations. Tesla recently lost a case in Germany’s Darmstadt Regional Court, which ordered Tesla to buy back the plaintiff’s owner’s Model 3.
The plaintiffs allege, “Assistance features such as automatic overtaking on the freeway are not working as they should. (FSD) is also erratic driving at entrances and exits or freeway intersections, like a novice driver who is ‘drinking and driving, Traffic lights and stop signs are also not recognized.”
Tesla said the vehicle was free of defects and insisted the features would be implemented via software updates in the future, but could not say when. Tesla emphasized that, to the company’s knowledge, the vehicle does not have any software or hardware faults that cannot be repaired by repairs. According to Tesla, upgrading to the latest hardware and software is free.
The entire in-vehicle system and the FSD suite are operating as expected, in line with current German regulations for autonomous driving. Tesla has appealed the court’s decision. Company CEO Elon Musk recently said that Tesla’s beta version of the FSD Beta system will be available in European markets later this year, subject to regulatory approvals.