The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has ordered Tesla to rename its Autopilot feature or face a sales ban in the state. Tesla could be temporarily barred from its largest U.S. market if it does not change its misleading advertising that exaggerates the self-driving capabilities of its cars, the California DMV warned on Tuesday, adopting an administrative law judge's ruling.
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The DMV said Tesla’s use of terms like “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” to describe its advanced driver assistance systems “is misleading and violates state law.” The agency ordered a 30-day suspension of Tesla’s license to sell cars in the state if Tesla does not correct concerns about promoting the term “Autopilot” within 60 days.
However, the DMV decided not to impose a suspension on Tesla's manufacturing license that had been proposed by the judge, avoiding a costly shutdown at a difficult time for the electric vehicle industry as it faces falling demand after the elimination of tax credits for EVs.
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Compliance could require Tesla to upgrade its driver-assist software. The company currently uses the names Autopilot and Full Self-Driving for its products, which, unlike technology from robo-taxi companies like Waymo, are not fully autonomous and require full attention from the driver at all times.
The decision comes after the DMV asked an administrative law judge to review Tesla's marketing practices and assess whether the suspension of its licenses was justified. The agency said Tesla has made false and misleading statements about its self-driving systems for years, implying that they can operate autonomously, when in no case have they been able to do so.
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Tesla rejected the suggestion that it was misleading customers and insisted it had always made it clear that drivers could not fully rely on the cars to drive themselves.
