路透，路透，又一次是路透的新闻！马斯克是不是又要说Reuters is lying (again)？ $特斯拉(TSLA)$
May 8 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors are examining whether Tesla 网页链接{(TSLA.O), opens new tab} committed securities or wire fraud by misleading investors and consumers about its electric vehicles’ self-driving capabilities, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems assist with steering, braking and lane changes - but are not fully autonomous. While Tesla has warned drivers to stay ready to take over driving, the Justice Department is examining other statements by Tesla and Chief Executive Elon Musk suggesting its cars can drive themselves.
5月8日（路透社）-三位知情人士告诉路透社，美国检察官正在调查特斯拉（TSLA.O）是否通过误导投资者和消费者了解其电动汽车的自动驾驶能力，实施证券或电信欺诈。 特斯拉的自动驾驶和全自动驾驶系统有助于转向、制动和变道，但并非完全自动。尽管特斯拉已经警告司机做好接管驾驶的准备，但司法部正在审查特斯拉和首席执行官埃隆·马斯克的其他声明，这些声明表明特斯拉的汽车可以自己驾驶。
U.S. regulators have separately investigated hundreds of crashes, including fatal ones, that have occurred in Teslas with Autopilot engaged, resulting in a mass recall by the automaker.
Reuters exclusively reported the 网页链接{U.S. criminal investigation into Tesla} in October 2022, and is now the first to report the specific criminal liability federal prosecutors are examining.
Investigators are exploring whether Tesla committed wire fraud, which involves deception in interstate communications, by misleading consumers about its driver-assistance systems, the sources said. They are also examining whether Tesla committed securities fraud by deceiving investors, two of the sources said.
美国监管机构分别调查了特斯拉在使用自动驾驶系统的情况下发生的数百起撞车事故，包括致命事故，导致该汽车制造商大规模召回。 路透社于2022年10月独家报道了美国对特斯拉的刑事调查，目前是第一家报道联邦检察官正在审查的具体刑事责任的公司。 消息人士称，调查人员正在调查特斯拉是否在驾驶辅助系统方面误导消费者，从而实施了电信欺诈，这涉及州际通信中的欺骗行为。其中两位消息人士表示，他们也在调查特斯拉是否通过欺骗投资者实施了证券欺诈。
The Securities and Exchange Commission is also investigating Tesla’s representations about driver-assistance systems to investors, one of the people said. The SEC declined to comment.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. Last October, it disclosed in a filing that the Justice Department had asked the company for information about Autopilot and Full Self-Driving.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
其中一位知情人士表示，美国证券交易委员会也在调查特斯拉向投资者提交的关于驾驶员辅助系统的陈述。美国证券交易委员会拒绝置评。 特斯拉没有回应置评请求。去年10月，该公司在一份文件中披露，司法部已向该公司询问有关自动驾驶和全自动驾驶的信息。 司法部拒绝置评。
The probe, which is not evidence of wrongdoing, could result in criminal charges, civil sanctions, or no action. Prosecutors are far from deciding how to proceed, one of the sources said, in part because they are sifting through voluminous documents Tesla provided in response to subpoenas.
Reuters could not determine the specific statements prosecutors are reviewing as potentially illegal. Musk has aggressively touted the prowess of Tesla’s driver-assistance technology for nearly a decade.
这项调查不是不法行为的证据，可能会导致刑事指控、民事制裁或不采取行动。其中一位消息人士表示，检察官远未决定如何进行，部分原因是他们正在筛选特斯拉为回应传票而提供的大量文件。 路透社无法确定检察官正在审查的具体陈述是否可能非法。近十年来，马斯克一直在大力吹捧特斯拉的驾驶辅助技术。
Tesla videos demonstrating the technology that remain 网页链接{archived, opens new tab} on its 网页链接{website, opens new tab} say: “The person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is driving itself.”
A Tesla 网页链接{engineer testified} in 2022 in a lawsuit over a fatal crash involving Autopilot that one of the videos, posted in October 2016, intended to show the technology’s potential and did not accurately portray its capabilities at the time. Musk nevertheless posted the video on social media, writing: “Tesla drives itself (no human input at all) thru urban streets to highway streets, then finds a parking spot.”
In a conference call with reporters in 2016, Musk described Autopilot as “probably better” than a human driver. During an October 2022 call, Musk addressed a forthcoming FSD upgrade he said would allow customers to travel “to your work, your friend’s house, to the grocery store without you touching the wheel.”
Musk is increasingly focused on self-driving technology as Tesla's car sales and profit slump. Tesla recently 网页链接{slashed costs through mass layoffs} and shelved plans for a long-awaited $25,000 model that had been expected to drive sales growth.
“Going balls to the wall for autonomy is a blindingly obvious move,” the billionaire executive posted on his social-media platform X in mid-April. Tesla shares, down more than 28% so far this year, surged in late April when Musk visited China and made progress toward approvals to sell FSD there.
Musk has repeatedly promised self-driving Teslas for about a decade. "Mere failure to realize a long-term, aspirational goal is not fraud," Tesla lawyers said in a 2022 court filing.
特斯拉展示这项技术的视频仍然存档，在其网站上打开新标签，打开新标签说：“坐在驾驶座上的人只是出于法律原因。他什么都没做。汽车是自己开的。” 2022年，一名特斯拉工程师在一起涉及自动驾驶系统的致命车祸诉讼中作证称，其中一段发布于2016年10月的视频旨在展示该技术的潜力，但当时没有准确描述其能力。尽管如此，马斯克还是在社交媒体上发布了这段视频，并写道：“特斯拉自己开车（完全没有人力投入）穿过城市街道到高速公路街道，然后找到了一个停车位。” 在2016年与记者的电话会议上，马斯克称自动驾驶“可能比人类驾驶员更好”。在2022年10月的一次电话会议上，马斯克谈到了即将进行的FSD升级，他说这将允许客户“在不碰方向盘的情况下前往你的工作、朋友的家和杂货店” 随着特斯拉汽车销量和利润的下滑，马斯克越来越关注自动驾驶技术。特斯拉最近通过大规模裁员削减了成本，并搁置了人们期待已久的2.5万美元车型的计划，该车型原本有望推动销量增长。 4月中旬，这位亿万富翁高管在其社交媒体平台X上发帖称：“为了自主权而孤注一掷是一个显而易见的举动。”今年迄今为止，特斯拉股价下跌了28%以上。4月底，马斯克访问中国，并在批准在中国出售FSD方面取得进展时，特斯拉股价飙升。 马斯克在大约十年的时间里多次承诺自动驾驶特斯拉。特斯拉律师在2022年的一份法庭文件中表示：“仅仅未能实现一个长期的、有抱负的目标并不是欺诈。”。
LEGAL CHALLENGES
Prosecutors scrutinizing Tesla’s autonomous-car claims are proceeding with caution, recognizing the legal hurdles they face, the people familiar with the inquiry said.
They will need to demonstrate that Tesla’s claims crossed a line from legal salesmanship to material and knowingly false statements that unlawfully harmed consumers or investors, three legal experts uninvolved in the probe told Reuters.
U.S. courts previously have ruled that “puffery” or “corporate optimism” regarding product claims do not amount to fraud. In 2008, a federal appeals court ruled that statements of corporate optimism alone do not demonstrate that a company official intentionally misled investors.
Justice Department officials will likely seek internal Tesla communications as evidence that Musk or others knew they were making false statements, said Daniel Richman, a Columbia Law School professor and former federal prosecutor. That is a challenge, Richman said, but the safety risk involved in overselling self-driving systems also “speaks to the seriousness with which prosecutors, a judge and jury would take the statements.”
FATAL CRASHES
Tesla’s claims about Autopilot and FSD have also drawn scrutiny in regulatory investigations and lawsuits.
Safety regulators and courts have raised concerns in recent months that corporate messaging about the technology - including the brand names Autopilot and Full Self-Driving - have imbued customers with a false sense of security.
In April, the Washington State Patrol arrested a man on suspicion of vehicular homicide after his Tesla, with Autopilot engaged, struck and killed a motorcyclist while the driver looked at his phone, police records show. In a probable-cause statement, a trooper cited the driver’s “admitted inattention to driving, while on autopilot mode ... putting trust in the machine to drive for him.”
In Washington state, a driver remains "responsible for the safe and legal operation of that vehicle" regardless of its technological capabilities, a state patrol spokesperson told Reuters.
The same month, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 网页链接{launched an investigation} into whether a Tesla recall of more than 2 million vehicles in December adequately addressed safety issues with Autopilot.
NHTSA declined to comment.
The recall followed a long-running probe opened by regulators after cars with Autopilot engaged repeatedly crashed into vehicles at first-responder emergency scenes. Regulators subsequently examined hundreds of crashes where Autopilot was engaged and identified 14 deaths and 54 injuries.
Tesla disputed NHTSA's findings but agreed to the recall, which employed over-the-air software updates intended to alert inattentive drivers.
The NHTSA investigation found “a critical safety gap between drivers’ expectations” of Tesla’s technology “and the system’s true capabilities,” according to agency records. “This gap led to foreseeable misuse and avoidable crashes.”
法律挑战 知情人士表示，审查特斯拉自动驾驶汽车索赔的检察官正在谨慎行事，认识到他们面临的法律障碍。 三位未参与调查的法律专家告诉路透社，他们需要证明特斯拉的说法越过了从合法销售到非法伤害消费者或投资者的材料和故意虚假陈述的界限。 美国法院此前曾裁定，对产品索赔的“夸夸其谈”或“企业乐观主义”不构成欺诈。2008年，一家联邦上诉法院裁定，仅凭企业乐观情绪的声明并不能证明公司官员故意误导投资者。 哥伦比亚大学法学院教授、前联邦检察官Daniel Richman表示，司法部官员可能会寻求特斯拉内部沟通，作为马斯克或其他人知道他们在做虚假陈述的证据。Richman说，这是一个挑战，但过度销售自动驾驶系统所涉及的安全风险也“表明了检察官、法官和陪审团对陈述的认真态度” 致命车祸 特斯拉关于自动驾驶和FSD的说法也受到了监管调查和诉讼的审查。 近几个月来，安全监管机构和法院担心，包括自动驾驶和全自动驾驶在内的有关该技术的企业信息给客户带来了虚假的安全感。 警方记录显示，今年4月，华盛顿州巡逻队逮捕了一名涉嫌车辆杀人的男子，原因是他的特斯拉在驾驶自动驾驶的情况下撞死了一名骑摩托车的人，当时司机正在看手机。在一份可能的原因陈述中，一名骑警引用了司机“承认在自动驾驶模式下疏忽驾驶……信任机器为他驾驶。” 一位州巡逻队发言人告诉路透社，在华盛顿州，无论车辆的技术能力如何，驾驶员仍然“对车辆的安全合法运行负责”。 同月，美国国家公路交通安全管理局启动了一项调查，调查特斯拉在12月召回的200多万辆汽车是否充分解决了自动驾驶的安全问题。 NHTSA拒绝置评。 在召回之前，监管机构展开了一项长期调查，此前自动驾驶汽车在第一反应应急现场多次撞向车辆。监管机构随后检查了数百起使用自动驾驶系统的撞车事故，确认14人死亡，54人受伤。 特斯拉对NHTSA的调查结果提出异议，但同意召回，该召回采用了旨在提醒注意力不集中的驾驶员的空中软件更新。 根据国家公路交通安全管理局的记录，NHTSA的调查发现，驾驶员对特斯拉技术的期望与系统的真实能力之间存在“严重的安全差距”。“这一差距导致了可预见的滥用和可避免的崩溃。”