We all know that Tesla’s Autopilot not good. Apparently, the law agrees because a German court ordered the electric vehicle maker to buy back Model 3s from customers after they complained about Autopilot not working as it should, Electrek report.
Since its rushed introduction in 2016, Tesla has tried to outdo Autopilot as autonomous driving. It can’t. What started as a $5,000 option in 2016 has now grown to one $12,000 package and includes features like automatic lane change and summoning. However, many of those features are not available abroad due to European regulations, and buyers are realizing that Autopilot is not what Tesla made it to be.
The German buyer filed a lawsuit against Tesla, essentially saying that the Autopilot software was not compatible with his car. Many of the features in the package he bought for €6,300 ($6,983) don’t even work on his car. From the German news outlet Spiegel:
… Assist functions such as automatic overtaking of slower vehicles on the freeway did not work. Steering behavior at entrances and exits or highway intersections is spongy and resembles that of a “new drunk driver”. Traffic lights and stop signs are not recognized.
The plaintiff’s attorney, who also identifies himself as a Tesla owner, said the case was groundbreaking and set a precedent for Tesla to “guarantee” its software. Tesla of course disagreed with the ruling that said any problems with the vehicle and its software could be resolved with a free fix or an update.
The court still didn’t buy it and ordered Tesla to refund buyers the full price of their Model 3 purchase: €69,000 or just over $76,000. Tesla is appealing the decision. All of this couldn’t have come at a worse time for Tesla, as the automaker deployment plan beta testing of Autopilot in Europe.
