Tesla was facing a 30-day ban of all car sales in California over deceptive use of the term “autopilot” in their marketing materials, but the electric carmaker just backed down and simply agreed to stop using that word.

With all of the wild controversies surrounding Tesla automobiles lately, it had kind of fallen by the wayside that California Attorney General Rob Bonta had sued the electric car manufacturer a couple years back for exaggerating claims of “autopilot” and “full self-driving capability” in their vehicles’ marketing materials. After all, many Tesla drivers who thought their cars could fully drive themselves have been responsible for a number of dangerous car crashes that have wrought multiple fatalities. Even here in the Bay Area we’ve seen ‘full self-driving’ fools just riding in the backseat as the car drove, or even brazenly taking naps behind the wheel.    

Bonta’s lawsuit bounced back from the wayside in December when a California judge issued a ruling Tuesday that banned Tesla from selling or manufacturing cars in California for a 30-day period. That ban was for deceptive use of the term “autopilot.” But the California DMV watered that ruling down substantially, and gave Tesla 60 days to remedy its marketing materials to remove the "autopilot" and “full self-driving” language.  

Well, Tesla took that full 60 days (almost exactly to the day!) and simply removed the word "autopilot" from their marketing materials in California, as the Chronicle reports. And while Tesla did technically play by the rules, albeit playing out the technicalities as hard as they could, the penalty would have been significant. Tesla would have not only lost the ability to sell cars in the state for 30 days, they would have had to pull their not-exactly self-driving robotaxis off the road for the duration of that suspension in the state as well.    

Tesla made the move on Tuesday, California DMV director Steve Gordon issued a statement saying that Tesla had taken “the required action to remain in compliance with the state of California’s consumer protections,” per the Chronicle.

Elon Musk’s company had previously declared that "This was a ‘consumer protection’ order about the use of the term ‘Autopilot’ in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.” So yes, they complied, but that statement ignores the existence of a class-action lawsuit from hundreds of Tesla owners for the company allegedly overselling its full-self driving capabilities.

Related: California Might Ban Tesla Sales for 30 Days Over Deceptive ‘Autopilot’ Marketing [SFist]

Top image: A Tesla electric car dealership stands on August 31, 2024 in Erfurt, Germany. Tesla, which operates a Gigafactory near Berlin, has seen competition in the electric car market in Europe intensify. Rival BMW outsold Tesla in electric cars in Europe in July. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)