- Elon Musk livestreamed himself testing an unreleased version of Tesla’s Full Self Driving software on Friday.
- Using a phone while driving is against California law and Tesla’s guidelines.
- But a Palo Alto police officer told The Verge there would be no fine because it wasn’t witnessed in person.
Elon Musk will escape a potential fine for driving a car while using his phone, The Verge reported.
Musk was test-driving an unreleased version of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software in Palo Alto, California on Friday, and livestreamed the 45-minute demo on X.
FSD is Tesla’s most advanced driver-assistance system, which can identify traffic lights and stop signs as well as Autopilot functions like automatic steering and lane changing.
Musk’s drive did feature one mishap, when the car tried to run a red light and forced Musk to hit the brakes, but the livestream itself was also cause for concern.
That’s because California law prohibits drivers from using a phone or another electronic device while behind the wheel, unless it’s being used in a hands-free manner.
And Musk did turn the camera around on himself at one point, showing that he was sitting in the Tesla driver’s seat.
A first offense violating this rule is punishable by a fine of $20 – a drop in the ocean for the world’s richest person.
But the Palo Alto Police Department told The Verge that it won’t be issuing a fine because no officer witnessed it happening at the time.
“Had an officer observed the driver with the phone in their hand, they could have issued the driver an infraction ticket for violating California’s handsfree law,” Captain James Reifschneider told The Verge.
“As no officer witnessed it happening in person at the time of occurrence, though, no ticket is forthcoming,” he added.
Musk’s behavior also appears to violate Tesla’s own rules on its self-driving feature. “Keep your hands on the steering yoke (or steering wheel) at all times,” its handbook says.
Friday’s incident isn’t the first time that Musk has pushed boundaries.
At X, the company formerly known as Twitter, he has faced several lawsuits from landlords and vendors accusing him of not paying bills. X’s landlord also had to pay $4,447 in fines after Musk asked staff to erect a flashing X sign on the roof of its headquarters without asking permission from the city to do so. The strobing light attracted 24 complaints from nearby residents before San Francisco officials ordered X to take it down.
Back in 2018, Musk and Tesla both had to pay a $20 million fine each after the CEO tweeted he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private. But that deal never happened, and the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Musk with securities fraud. It said Musk’s statements “lacked an adequate basis in fact” and caused the stock price to jump 6%. Musk’s settlement with the SEC also required his Tesla-related tweets to be reviewed by a company executive.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
