Tesla employees abuse on-board cameras to spy on customers


Tesla vehicles are equipped with many cameras that transmit images to remote servers for various operations. However, Tesla employees allegedly shared some of these recorded videos, showing embarrassing or tragic moments, without the consent of car owners.

The side camera of a Tesla Model 3 // Source: Frandroid

The news in brief:

  • Tesla employees allegedly illegally shared videos recorded by customer car dash cams
  • Reuters’ investigation into Tesla’s video-sharing practices is very serious and includes many testimonies collected from former employees of the company.
  • The evidence obtained raises serious concerns about the privacy of Tesla customers and the legality of employee video-sharing practices.

Tesla has equipped its cars with interior and exterior cameras to improve safety and driver assistance systems. But, it also means that all activities inside and outside the cars are recorded, whether moving or stationary.

A recent Reuters investigation sheds light on a rather dark aspect of Elon Musk’s business: his employees have apparently been sharing videos recorded inside customers’ cars, and have been doing so for several years. These videos include images of drivers, passengers and people near the cars, and some of them have been deemed ” highly invasive by former employees interviewed by Reuters.

These are employees paid by Tesla to watch videos filmed by the car, in order to help the Autopilot system better recognize signs and everyday situations. Their job is to label objects, humans, animals, etc. when the computer failed to recognize an item.

A camera films the interior of the car, it can be viewed with Sentinel mode or Dog mode

The videos shared are said to be very varied in nature: some showed pets and road signs, while others showed road accidents or people caught in embarrassing situations. Reuters reports that videos were even recorded in Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s personal car.

Other, more innocuous videos recorded inside cars have been turned into memes and shared across the company. These videos would have been embellished with “amusing captions or comments” before being published in private group conversations between Tesla employees.

Tesla must take immediate action to protect customer privacy

Sharing such videos is problematic on its own, but it also raises questions about the privacy and security of Tesla customers’ personal data. The automaker said the collection of this data was intended to train its artificial intelligence for autonomous driving, but some employees are said to have frankly abused this permission.

Tesla has yet to comment on the Reuters investigation, but it’s clear the company needs to take action to prevent this from happening again in the future. Reuters’ investigation into video sharing practices by Tesla employees can be very harmful for Tesla, but also for everyone in the automotive sector. It calls customer privacy into question and can lead to severe penalties from regulators.

If video sharing practices are upheld, it could have a negative impact on innovation, as the automotive sector could face tighter regulatory restrictions and a loss of customer confidence. It is essential for Tesla to take immediate action to protect the privacy of its customers and restore their trust.


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