The Superbowl is known for its clever and creative commercials in between the real action so much so that many people watch it just for the ads. But this year, two Superbowl ads aired with a more grim tone than viewers are used to.
These commercials directly called for a boycott of Tesla and all it’s vehicles.
Anti-Tesla Superbowl Ads
These Superbowl ads were the brainchild of Dan O’Dowd, tech CEO, and his initiative, The Dawn Project. This project aims to make all software systems safer for humanity.
Their main target? Tesla’s self-driving and autopilot features.
O’Dowd focuses the ads on the safety failures in Tesla’s self-driving features…
Citing all of the accidents that could’ve been avoided had the technology not been as defective as it is.
In a statement, O’Dowd mentioned that “when you buy a new Tesla you are financing and enabling Elon Musk to put a dangerous, unfinished, product on our public roads.”
WE HAVE TRIED TO PRESSURE TESLA AND ELON MUSK TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND TAKE THEIR DEFECTIVE SOFTWARE OFF OUR ROADS. HOWEVER, IT SEEMS THAT THE ONLY THING THAT WILL PRESSURE TESLA AND ELON MUSK TO DO THE RIGHT THING IS TO DENY THEM YOUR MONEY.
This makes the second consecutive year that The Dawn Project has aired ads during the Superbowl. Last year, one of the commercials exposed a Tesla with the autopilot feature on failing to stop for crash dummy pedestrians…
Baby carriages…
And a stopped school bus.
Two months after that ad aired, a Tesla on autopilot failed to stop for a school bus and hit a young girl.
Tesla is yet to respond to the initiative.
This year, the Superbowl ads similarly featured more footage of Tesla’s failing safety tests. For new ads, The Dawn Project recovered dashcam and street camera footage of Tesla’s crashing and malfunctioning in real-time.
So, how does Tesla’s liability work?
Tesla’s Liability
One of the Superbowl ads claims that Tesla and Musk have “[danced] away from liability in Autopilot crashes.”
The Tesla owner’s manual says the autopilot and self-driving features are still in their developmental “beta” program.
Even so, many of the self-driving features are unlikely to work in some incredibly common places and scenarios. The software is likely to malfunction “on hills, on roads with sharp turns, in direct sunlight, or when shadows obstruct lane markings.”
To make matters worse, according to the safety manual…
The self-driving feature will most likely malfunction in “interactions with pedestrians, bicyclists, and other road users.”
With all this considered, when can you actually use the features without the risk of an accident?
But it’s not just the Superbowl Ads…
TESLA AND MUSK HAVE BEEN FACING INTENSE BACKLASH.
Not only is the EV competition that Tesla is facing potentially disastrous for the company…
But in December, over 2 million Tesla vehicles were recalled. The recall followed an NHTSA investigation of 1,000 crashes where the autopilot system was engaged. Tesla soon patched the software update for more cars over the air.
Conclusion
The main goal of the Superbowl ads by the Dawn Project is simple…
To raise awareness of this dangerous, risky system and to convince consumers to act with their wallets.
So… will Tesla finally start to get its safety systems in shape…
Or are these Superbowl ads yet another stop sign that the company will blow past?
Be Great,
GCTV Staff
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