A judge has ordered Elon Musk to testify under oath whether his company made certain allegations about its electric vehicles.
And that’s after Tesla’s lawyers said in an ongoing lawsuit that data attributed to him by plaintiffs may have been created using “deepfake” software.
The ruling was handed down by California Judge Yvette Pennebaker on Wednesday as part of a lawsuit filed against Tesla over the death of Walter Huang, who was killed in a 2018 car crash involving one of the company’s cars.
Musk was ordered to give a three-hour interview under oath about some of his past comments on Tesla cars and their “autopilot” capabilities, and the CEO is said to have claimed in a conference call that some models can “drive autonomously more safely than a human.” The plaintiffs say the claims in the lawsuit they filed are misleading and that the driverless features in Huang Tesla’s car malfunctioned, causing his death.
However, the automaker claimed that Huang was on his cell phone before the accident and ignored the warnings from the car and did not take any responsibility for the accident. The company’s lawyers also questioned Elon Musk’s alleged comments, saying that “like many celebrities, he has been the subject of numerous ‘fake’ video and audio recordings that show him saying and doing things that are not his actually said or done.”
Although the Huang family cited a 2016 video on YouTube showing Musk making the aforementioned statement, Tesla’s legal team disputed this statement, saying it could not recall the CEO’s previous comments. .
Judge Pennebaker said Tesla’s allegations were “deeply disturbing” and suggested the company’s defense could make all of Musk’s public statements “immune” from legal scrutiny simply because he is “famous.” He warned that such discussions could allow celebrities and public figures to “avoid taking credit for what they’ve done for them.”
But the judge’s decision is temporary, meaning another hearing will be held Thursday to determine whether or not to fire Musk under oath. Such rulings are unusual in California courts, which allow parties to present additional arguments against testimony before the testimony becomes final.
Source: RT
Source: Arabic RT
