A Tesla owner has filed a class action lawsuit accusing the carmaker of enabling its employees to exploit intimate or embarrassing pictures captured by the electric vehicles for “tasteless entertainment.”
On Friday, San Francisco resident Henry Yeh filed the suit in federal court, following a Reuters report quoting former Tesla employees who claimed video or images were retrieved from people’s cars.
A court document claimed that Tesla personnel “circulated recordings of Tesla customers in private and embarrassing situations, without their consent,” thanks to sophisticated camera systems incorporated into the cars.
The suit highlighted examples such as a naked man approaching a Tesla and road rage incidents.
A video showing a Tesla hitting a child on a bicycle quickly spread around a Tesla office in Silicon Valley, the court filing said.
It added that Tesla employees had shared pictures of people’s pets, making some into “memes” embellished with commentary before being posted in group chats.
Cameras in vehicles captured “highly-invasive videos and images” which were used for “the tasteless and tortious entertainment” of Tesla employees, the suit maintained.
The activity dates back to at least 2019, according to the filing. The lawsuit asks the court to order Tesla to stop the “wrongful behavior” and pay unspecified damages.
The suit accuses Tesla of negligence, fraud and privacy invasion. Tesla did not reply to an AFP request for comment.
