The comments came days after Musk said Tesla would start charging $3,000 more for Full Self-Driving, which still requires active supervision and doesn’t make the company’s vehicles autonomous. The California Department of Motor Vehicles has accused Tesla of misleading consumers about its technology, and federal safety regulators are investigating whether the automaker’s Autopilot system is defective.
NHTSA wrote to Tesla last year about how the company had been subjecting Full Self-Driving beta testers to nondisclosure agreements that may have impeded access to information the agency needed to assess the program. In October, Musk confirmed Tesla had dropped the NDA. A few months later, the company terminated an employee days after he posted a YouTube video of his car running into a traffic pylon while using Full Self-Driving.
Musk has written in the past that he appreciates critical feedback and urged his Twitter followers in February to seek out negative assessments.