Super Bowl ads promoting "Boycott Tesla" criticize self-driving tech

Two ads during Sunday's Super Bowl criticized Tesla's self-driving technology, calling for viewers to boycott the company and claiming that its vehicles are unsafe.

On Sunday, two Super Bowl advertisements attacked Tesla's self-driving technology, urging viewers to boycott the business and asserting that its cars are dangerous.

The advertisements for The Dawn Project are a sequel to a 2023 Super Bowl commercial campaign that showed a Tesla operated by Autopilot destroying kid-sized dummies in a parking area. The Sunday advertisements featured footage of a Tesla operated by Autopilot hitting several kid-sized dummies and ignoring a school bus's blinking stop sign.

State and federal officials have been scrutinizing Tesla's Autopilot system more and more in the past year. In December, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) came to the conclusion that crashes were caused by improper usage of the program.

Following the NHTSA investigation, the firm recalled almost two million cars — nearly every car it has ever made — for required Autopilot updates. Notwithstanding its disagreement with the NHTSA's conclusions, Tesla acknowledged the software upgrade and vehicle recall.

Tesla's standout feature is Autopilot, software that allows the car to automatically change lanes, accelerate, and halt. It is not a fully autonomous system, despite its name. Claims that the software is readily deceived, allowing a driver to avoid paying as much attention as intended or even sit in the driver's seat while driving, have led to criticism of the program.