Elon Musk has been accused of overstating the competence of autopilot and full self-driving technologies deployed in Tesla vehicles in a lawsuit brought by the car company’s shareholders. The case filed in San Francisco federal court on Monday claims Musk defrauded investors over the course of four years by making false and misleading claims which obscured how the tech “created a serious risk of accident and injury.” The case highlights how the value of Tesla stock plummeted amid reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating the technologies, which have been suspected as causing a string of deadly crashes. “As a result of defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the company’s common stock, plaintiff and other class members have suffered significant losses and damages,” the proposed class action lawsuit alleges.
