A California judge presiding over a wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla Inc. found it “deeply troubling” that the electric-car maker claims videos of Elon Musk touting Autopilot mighty not actually be real.
Confronted with Tesla’s refusal to rule out that some clips could be digitally altered deep fakes and therefore not suitable as evidence, the judge came up with an elegant solution: Put the billionaire entrepreneur and artificial intelligence enthusiast under oath and have him testify as to which statements coming out of his mouth are authentic.
Last week's order by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Evette Pennypacker is a watershed moment in the escalating controversy over Tesla’s driver-assistance technology.
Tesla and Musk are under legal pressure from consumers, investors, securities regulators and federal prosecutors questioning whether the company has over-hyped its progress toward self-driving vehicles during the last eight years. Tesla also is in the thick of multiple probes by the NHTSA over possible defects in Autopilot linked to at least 17 deaths.
The three-hour deposition of Musk ordered by the judge — though very limited in scope — will put him on the record for the first time vouching for public statements he’s made since 2014 promoting Tesla’s technology in media interviews, blog posts and tweets. Musk may be also be asked to authenticate a 2016 video that exaggerated the abilities of Autopilot — in which he dictated the opening text that claimed the company’s car drove itself.