Tesla staff shared images and recordings from customers’ cars, Reuters says

By Craig Trudell | Bloomberg

Tesla Inc. workers shared images and videos with one another that customers’ cars recorded during the last several years, Reuters reported, citing interviews with former employees.

The screen shots and clips shared in internal chats included crashes, road-rage incidents and footage from inside garages and private properties, according to the report. Reuters said more than a dozen former Tesla employees agreed to answer questions, and that all spoke on the condition they wouldn’t be named.

One video in 2021 showed a Tesla hitting a child who was riding a bike, the news agency reported, citing one employee. Another captured the submersible Lotus Esprit featured in the 1977 James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, parked in a garage. Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk bought the vehicle at auction in 2013.

The circulation of sensitive and personal content could be construed as a violation of Tesla’s own privacy policy and potentially lead to intervention by the US Federal Trade Commission, Reuters reported, citing David Choffnes, executive director of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at Northeastern University in Boston. A spokesperson for the FTC told the news agency that it doesn’t comment on individual companies or their conduct.

Tesla’s use of cameras for its driver-assistance and security systems have stirred controversy before. A German consumer association sued the company in July, alleging that Tesla wasn’t telling owners to comply with European data regulations when recording activity surrounding their vehicle. The consumer group said this month that Tesla will start warning customers that its Sentry Mode may infringe on data-privacy laws.

Teslas also were banned from Chinese military complexes due to concerns about the vehicle cameras collecting sensitive information, Bloomberg reported in March 2021. During a virtual appearance at a conference in China that month, Musk said the company didn’t use its vehicles for spying and would be shut down if it had.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.