In 2019 Tesla faced a lawsuit in Germany from the consumer protection agency Wettbewerbszentrale, which claimed Tesla’s use of the term Autopilot was misleading.
More than six months later in July, Tesla lost the case after a court in Munich agreed that the term was misleading for the average buyer. The decision banned Tesla from using certain phrases that contain the word “Autopilot” or autonomous driving functions in its advertising materials.
While the court decision was not legally binding at the time, it appears the automaker has removed at least one reference to it in the car itself. After the recent 2020.48.10 software update, Drive Tesla reader @tesla_adri noticed the word “Autopilot” has been replaced with “Lenkassistent”, or steering assistant in English.
Interestingly, two of the three main phrases cited in the court case, “Autopilot | Included” and “Full potential for autonomous driving”, still appear on the German version of Tesla’s website. Only the phrase “Coming later this year” has been replaced with “In the near future”.
Have any of our readers in Germany noticed a similar change, or other references to Autopilot that have been removed? Let us know in the comments below, or send us an email at tips@driveteslacanada.ca.
