Tesla Faces Lawsuit from Shareholders Over Robotaxi, Musk Slams Lawyers
Tesla Robotaxi
China Tech News, Beijing Time August 6, according to Reuters, Elon Musk and Tesla Inc. are being sued by shareholders. These shareholders accuse them of securities fraud, alleging that they concealed a major risk: the company's autonomous robotaxis (Robotaxi) and other autonomous vehicles pose dangers.
This proposed class-action lawsuit was filed late Monday evening. In June, Tesla publicly tested its autonomous robotaxis at its headquarters in Austin, Texas, showing that these vehicles have multiple issues, including speeding, sudden braking, veering onto sidewalks, entering incorrect lanes, and allowing passengers to disembark in the middle of multi-lane roads.
Tesla's stock price fell 6.1% within two trading days after the test began, with a market value loss of approximately $68 billion.
Shareholders accuse Musk and Tesla of repeatedly exaggerating the effectiveness and prospects of their autonomous driving technology, artificially inflating Tesla's financial expectations and stock price. This includes Musk's promise in an April 22 phone call that "Tesla is fully focused on launching autonomous robotaxi services in June," as well as Tesla's claim that its autonomous plan will achieve "scalable security deployment across regions and applications."
Musk's Response
On Tuesday, Musk responded to the matter on X, strongly criticizing the lawyers representing these shareholders. "Actually, these lawsuits have never been driven by investors," Musk said. "They are always baseless class-action lawsuits filed by greedy lawyers looking to score a settlement. They are the worst of humanity. I've seen worse people than them."
In addition to Musk and Tesla, the company's CFO Viabhav Taneja and former CFO Zachary Kirkhorn were also named as defendants.
As of press time, Tesla has not commented on this matter. (Author / Xiao Yu)