Tesla Employees Reportedly Shared Sensitive Customer Images as Privacy Goes for a Toss

Reuters reported that some Tesla (NYSE: TSLA) employees shared sensitive customer images in what looks like a clear breach of customer privacy.

Tesla cars come up with cameras that help assist with the company’s autonomous driving. Reuters meanwhile reported that between 2019 and 2022 some Tesla employees privately shared images and videos – including some invasive images.

While some of the images don’t seem harmful and are quite usual stuff like road signs and pets, some others look troubling – including one where ex-Tesla employees described a person approaching the car in a naked position.

Also, Reuters reported that some Tesla employees created memes out of the images and shared them in private chat groups.

Incidentally, Tesla says that customer privacy “is and will always be enormously important to us.”

Also, the company says that “camera recordings remain anonymous and are not linked to you or your vehicle”

However, some former Tesla employees told Reuters that through computer programs they could determine the location where the recordings were made through which they could potentially determine where the car owner lived.

Two ex-employees told Reuters that they did not find anything wrong with sharing customer images.

However, some others saw it as problematic and one ex-employee told Reuters “It was a breach of privacy, to be honest. And I always joked that I would never buy a Tesla after seeing how they treated some of these people.”

Tesla Employees Reportedly Shared Images of Drivers

Another ex-employee told Reuters “I’m bothered by it because the people who buy the car, I don’t think they know that their privacy is, like, not respected … We could see them doing laundry and really intimate things. We could see their kids.”

Notably, China also banned Tesla cars from some government compounds over spying concerns. While Musk denied that Tesla is involved in spying, it did not cut ice with China.

Relations between China and Tesla have anyways somewhat soured over the last couple of years but reports suggest that Musk is planning to visit the country as soon as this month – a move that might help repair the relations between the two.

Tesla’s autonomous driving and its advanced version the FSD (full-self driving) have always been controversial as regulators have problems with the very nomenclature as it is not yet fully autonomous as the name might suggest.

FSD is Facing Multiple Controversies

Tesla’s FSD is facing multiple controversies and during the Super Bowl this year Dawn Project released a 30-second commercial calling out Tesla for deceptive marketing.

The video shows a Tesla Model 3 allegedly on FSD and proclaims “Tesla Full Self-Driving will run down a child in a school crosswalk, swerve into oncoming traffic, hit a baby in a stroller, go straight past stopped school buses, ignore do not enter signs and even drive on the wrong side of the road.”

In February, a Tesla Model 3 car crashed into a parked Contra Costa County Fire Protection District truck on Interstate 680 – one of the over two dozen instances when Tesla cars rammed into stationary emergency vehicles.

Musk Sees FSD as a Key Long-Term Earnings Driver for Tesla

Musk meanwhile sees FSD as a key driver and predicted that its price would eventually rise to $100,000. Many Tesla bulls also like the stock for its software capabilities.

• Read our guide on buying Tesla stock.

Last year, Tesla extended FSD to all North American buyers. In the fourth quarter of 2022, it earned $300 million from FSD sales and said that nearly 400,000 customers in North America have the software.

During Tesla’s Q4 2022 earnings call, Musk said that he does not see any company which is even a “distant second” to Tesla in self-driving. He added, “I don’t think you could see a second place with a telescope, at least we can’t.”

Meanwhile, other companies – both in the US and China are working on autonomous driving. Alphabet’s Waymo is testing fully driverless cars in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

• Read our guide on buying Alphabet stock

Chinese EV company Xpeng Motors expects to roll out its NGP (Navigation Guided Pilot) to all Chinese cities by the end of this year.

As for Tesla, reports of employees sharing images from the car are yet another controversy for its autonomous driving software.

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