France orders Tesla to end ‘deceptive commercial practices'
French anti-fraud authorities said on Tuesday they have ordered US electric car giant Tesla's local subsidiary to stop 'deceptive commercial practices' after an investigation found several violations harmful to consumers and contrary to law.
The fraud prevention and consumer protection agency (DGCCRF) said its agents investigated Tesla's French subsidiary between 2023 and 2024 after reports were filed on a consumer complaint platform.
The probe revealed 'deceptive commercial practices regarding the fully autonomous driving capabilities of Tesla vehicles, the availability of certain options and vehicle trade-in offers,' it said.
The agency also cited delays in refunding cancelled orders, a lack of information on the location of deliveries and incomplete sales contracts, among other violations.
Tesla was given four months to comply with regulations.
It faces a daily fine of 50,000 euros ($58,000) if it fails to stop deceptive commercial practices over the fully autonomous driving option of certain Tesla models.
Tesla did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Tesla sales have tanked in Europe in recent months owing to an ageing fleet of cars, rising competition and consumer distaste for Elon Musk's role in US President Donald Trump's administration.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Trump rattles NATO allies as he descends on summit
THE HAGUE: US President Donald Trump swept into NATO's Hague summit Tuesday, with allies hoping a pledge to ramp up defense spending will keep the mercurial leader of the military superpower committed to protecting them. Trump joined leaders from NATO's 31 other members to kick off the two-day gathering with a dinner hosted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander in the ornate Orange Hall at his royal residence. The alliance hopes to keep Trump bound to its mutual defense vow by meeting his demand for a headline figure of five percent of GDP on defense spending. But Trump refused to say he was committed to NATO's Article Five clause and protecting Europe in comments that will likely rattle his counterparts on the continent. 'Depends on your definition. There's numerous definitions of Article Five,' Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One. 'I'm committed to being their friend.' To keep Trump on board, NATO members have thrashed out a compromise deal to dedicate 3.5 percent to core military needs by 2035, and 1.5 percent to broader security-related areas such as cybersecurity and infrastructure. NATO says the military build-up is crucial to deter Russia, which officials warn is rapidly rebuilding its forces depleted by the war in Ukraine and could be ready to attack the alliance in five years. But it is just as important for keeping Trump engaged as Washington warns it may shift forces from Europe to face the threat from China. 'They're going to be lifting it to five percent, that's good,' Trump said. 'It gives them much more power.' But while the promise of more spending could win Trump over, deep divisions remain over the approach to Europe's key security issue: Russia's war in Ukraine. Trump said he would probably meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky while in The Hague, with Kyiv hoping it can avoid a repeat of the pair's infamous Oval Office bust-up. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told an audience in The Hague that NATO's 'historic' spending pledge showed that 'the Europe of defense has finally awakened.' Alliance leaders meanwhile — many of whom are struggling to find the money that will be required — lined up to argue that the threats facing the continent required bold steps. 'We must navigate this era of radical uncertainty with agility,' British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in announcing the UK's commitment to meet the target. Starmer on Wednesday will formally announce that his country is buying a dozen F-35A fighters, capable of carrying atomic weapons to support NATO's nuclear mission. The purchase marks an expansion of Britain's nuclear deterrence, which is currently limited to submarine-launched missiles. A statement late Tuesday from Starmer's office quoted Rutte as saying: 'I strongly welcome today's announcement,' calling it 'yet another robust British contribution to NATO.' Separately, powerhouse Germany announced plans to hit the 3.5-percent figure for core defense needs by 2029 — six years before the timeline. At the other end of the scale, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has risked Trump's ire by insisting his country doesn't have to meet the five percent target. For its part, the Kremlin attacked NATO for its 'rampant militarization,' with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying: 'This is the reality that surrounds us.' Since storming back to power, Trump has upended the West's approach to the three-year conflict by turning his back on Kyiv and opening the door to closer ties with Moscow. Zelensky was set to play less of a central role than at recent NATO gatherings and will not attend the main working session. But Ukraine's president said he would discuss with Trump buying a package of weapons made up mainly of air defenses. Zelensky would also push Trump on imposing new sanctions on Russia as Moscow has stalled peace efforts being pressed by Washington, Kyiv said. 'There are no signs that Putin wants to stop this war. Russia rejects all peace proposals including those from the US. Putin only thinks about war,' the Ukrainian leader told a defense forum held alongside the summit. Trump did briefly meet on the sidelines of the summit late Tuesday with Turkiye's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who urged 'close dialogue' to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Rutte said allies would send the message that support for Kyiv was 'unwavering and will persist.' But despite his insistence that Ukraine's bid for membership remains 'irreversible,' NATO will avoid any mention of Kyiv's push to join after Trump ruled it out.
Arab News
4 hours ago
- Arab News
Grok shows ‘flaws' in fact-checking Israel-Iran war: study
WASHINGTON: Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok produced inaccurate and contradictory responses when users sought to fact-check the Israel-Iran conflict, a study said Tuesday, raising fresh doubts about its reliability as a debunking tool. With tech platforms reducing their reliance on human fact-checkers, users are increasingly utilizing AI-powered chatbots — including xAI's Grok — in search of reliable information, but their responses are often themselves prone to misinformation. 'The investigation into Grok's performance during the first days of the Israel-Iran conflict exposes significant flaws and limitations in the AI chatbot's ability to provide accurate, reliable, and consistent information during times of crisis,' said the study from the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) of the Atlantic Council, an American think tank. 'Grok demonstrated that it struggles with verifying already-confirmed facts, analyzing fake visuals, and avoiding unsubstantiated claims.' The DFRLab analyzed around 130,000 posts in various languages on the platform X, where the AI assistant is built in, to find that Grok was 'struggling to authenticate AI-generated media.' Following Iran's retaliatory strikes on Israel, Grok offered vastly different responses to similar prompts about an AI-generated video of a destroyed airport that amassed millions of views on X, the study found. It oscillated — sometimes within the same minute — between denying the airport's destruction and confirming it had been damaged by strikes, the study said. In some responses, Grok cited the a missile launched by Yemeni rebels as the source of the damage. In others, it wrongly identified the AI-generated airport as one in Beirut, Gaza, or Tehran. When users shared another AI-generated video depicting buildings collapsing after an alleged Iranian strike on Tel Aviv, Grok responded that it appeared to be real, the study said. The Israel-Iran conflict, which led to US air strikes against Tehran's nuclear program over the weekend, has churned out an avalanche of online misinformation including AI-generated videos and war visuals recycled from other conflicts. AI chatbots also amplified falsehoods. As the Israel-Iran war intensified, false claims spread across social media that China had dispatched military cargo planes to Tehran to offer its support. When users asked the AI-operated X accounts of AI companies Perplexity and Grok about its validity, both wrongly responded that the claims were true, according to disinformation watchdog NewsGuard. Researchers say Grok has previously made errors verifying information related to crises such as the recent India-Pakistan conflict and anti-immigration protests in Los Angeles. Last month, Grok was under renewed scrutiny for inserting 'white genocide' in South Africa, a far-right conspiracy theory, into unrelated queries. Musk's startup xAI blamed an 'unauthorized modification' for the unsolicited response. Musk, a South African-born billionaire, has previously peddled the unfounded claim that South Africa's leaders were 'openly pushing for genocide' of white people. Musk himself blasted Grok after it cited Media Matters — a liberal media watchdog he has targeted in multiple lawsuits — as a source in some of its responses about misinformation. 'Shame on you, Grok,' Musk wrote on X. 'Your sourcing is terrible.'
Al Arabiya
5 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Musk's 'Robotaxis' Draw Regulatory Scrutiny After Video Shows One Driving in an Opposing Lane
Federal traffic safety regulators are looking into suspected problems with Elon Musk's test run of self-driving robotaxis in Texas after videos surfaced showing them braking suddenly or going straight through an intersection from a turning lane and driving down the wrong side of the road. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday that it has asked Tesla for information about the apparent errors. Though many other videos show robotaxis driving perfectly, if regulators find any major issues, that would likely raise questions about Musk's repeated statements that the robotaxis are safe and his claim that Tesla will dominate a future in which nearly all cars on the road will have no one behind the wheel–or even need a steering wheel at all. 'NHTSA is aware of the referenced incidents and is in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information,' the agency said in a statement. Passengers in Tesla robotaxis on the road in Austin, Texas, have generally been impressed, and the stock rose 8 percent Monday. Investors grew more cautious Tuesday after news of NHTSA's inquiry, and the stock fell more than 2 percent. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A bullish Tesla financial analyst who was driven around in a robotaxi on Sunday when the test runs began said his ride was 'perfect' and suggested the videos on X and YouTube showing errors were no big deal. 'Any issues they encounter will be fixed,' said Wedbush Securities' Dan Ives, calling the test 'a huge success in the past three days despite the skeptics.' One of those skeptics, a Telemetry Insight expert in car technology, said the videos were alarming enough that the tests, as currently run, should be halted. 'The system has always had highly erratic performance, working really well a lot of the time, but frequently making random and inconsistent, but dangerous errors,' said Sam Abuelsamid in a text referring to Tesla's self-driving software. 'This is not a system that should be carrying members of the public or being tested on public roads without trained test drivers behind the wheel.' In one video, a Tesla moves into a lane with a big yellow arrow indicating it is for left turns only, but then goes straight through the intersection instead, entering an opposing lane on the other side. The car seems to realize it made some mistake and begins to swerve several times, with the steering wheel jerking back and forth, before eventually settling down. But the Tesla proceeds in the opposing lane for 10 seconds. At the time, there was no oncoming traffic. The passenger in the car who posted the video, money manager Rob Maurer, shrugged off the incident. 'There are no vehicles anywhere in sight, so this wasn't a safety issue,' Maurer said in commentary accompanying his video. 'I didn't feel uncomfortable in the situation.' Another video shows a Tesla stopping twice suddenly in the middle of the road, possibly responding to the flashing lights of police cars. But the police are obviously not interested in the Tesla or traffic in front or behind it because they have parked on side roads, not near it, apparently responding to an unrelated event. Federal regulators opened an investigation last year into how Teslas with what Musk calls 'Full Self-Driving' have responded in low-visibility conditions after several accidents, including one that was fatal. Tesla was forced to recall 2.4 million of its vehicles at the time. Musk has said his Teslas using 'Full Self-Driving' are safer than human drivers, and his robotaxis, using a newer, improved version of the system, will be so successful so quickly that he will be able to deploy hundreds of thousands of them on the road by the end of next year. Even if the Austin test goes well, though, the billionaire faces big challenges. Other self-driving companies have launched taxis, including Amazon's Zoox and current market leader Waymo, which is not only picking up passengers in Austin, but several other cities. The company recently announced it had clocked its 10 millionth paid ride. Musk needs a win in robotaxis. His work in the Trump administration as cost-cutting czar has alienated many buyers among Tesla's traditional environmentally conscious and liberal base in the US, tanking sales. Buyers in Europe have balked, too, after Musk embraced some extreme right-wing politicians earlier this year in both Britain and Germany.
