Musk wanted to use Tesla cameras to spy on drivers and win autopilot lawsuits
Elon Musk pushed to use Tesla’s internal driver monitoring camera to record video of drivers’ behavior, primarily for Tesla to use this video as evidence to defend itself from investigations in the event of a crash, according to Walter Isaacson’s new biography of the Tesla CEO.
Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk is out, resulting in several revelations about Tesla’s past, present, and future. One of these revelations is a potential use for the Tesla internal driver monitoring camera that is included on current Teslas.
Many cars have a camera like this to monitor driver attentiveness and warn a driver if they seem to be paying too little attention to the road, though other automakers typically use infrared cameras and the data never leaves the car.
Teslas have had these cameras for many years, first showing up on the Model 3 in 2017 and later on the S/X, but they weren’t activated until 2021. Before that, Tesla determined attention by detecting steering wheel torque (a safety that was pretty easy to defeat).
Nowadays, the camera is used to ensure that drivers are still watching the road while Autopilot or FSD are activated, as both systems are “Level 2” self-driving systems and thus require driver attention. The hope, though, was to potentially use the camera for cabin monitoring if Tesla’s robotaxi dream is ever realized.
But that wasn’t the only thing Tesla wanted to use the cameras for. According to the biography, Musk pushed internally to use the camera to record clips of Tesla drivers, initially without their knowledge, with the goal of using this footage to defend the company in the event of investigations into the behavior of its Autopilot system.
Musk was convinced that bad drivers rather than bad software were the main reason for most of the accidents. At one meeting, he suggested using data collected from the car’s cameras—one of which is inside the car and focused on the driver—to prove when there was driver error. One of the women at the table pushed back. “We went back and forth with the privacy team about that,” she said. “We cannot associate the selfie streams to a specific vehicle, even when there’s a crash, or at least that’s the guidance from our lawyers.”
– Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk
The first point here is interesting because there are indeed a lot of bad drivers who misuse Autopilot and are certainly to blame for what happens while it’s activated.
As mentioned above, Autopilot and FSD are “Level 2” systems. There are six levels of self-driving – 0 through 5 – and levels 0-2 require active driving at all times, whereas with levels 3+, the driver can turn their attention away from the road in certain circumstances. But despite Tesla’s insistence that drivers still pay attention, a study has shown that driver attention does decrease with the system activated.
We have seen many examples of Tesla drivers behaving badly with Autopilot activated, though those egregious examples aren’t entirely the issue here. There have been many well-publicized Tesla crashes, and in the immediate aftermath of an incident, rumors often swirl about whether Autopilot was activated. Regardless of whether there is any reason to believe that it was activated, media reports or social media will often focus on Autopilot, leading to an often unfair public perception that there is a connection between Autopilot and crashing.
But in many of these cases, Autopilot eventually gets exonerated when the incident is investigated by authorities. Oftentimes, it’s a simple matter of the driver not using the system properly or relying on it where they should not. These exonerations often include investigations where vehicle logs are pulled to show whether Autopilot was activated, how often it had to remind the driver to pay attention, what speed the car was driving, and so on. Cameras could add another data point to those investigations.
Even if crashes happen due to human error, this could still be an issue for Tesla because human error is often a design issue. The system could be designed or marketed to better remind drivers of their responsibility (in particular, don’t call it “full self-driving” if it doesn’t drive itself, perhaps?), or more safeguards could be added to ensure driver attention.
The NHTSA is currently probing Tesla’s Autopilot system, and it looks like safeguards are what they’ll focus on – they’ll likely force changes to the way Tesla monitors drivers for safety purposes.
But then Musk goes on to suggest that not only are these accidents generally the fault of the drivers, but that he wants cabin cameras to be used to spy on drivers, with the specific purpose of wanting to win lawsuits or investigations brought against Tesla (such as the NHTSA probe). Not to enhance safety, not to collect data to improve the system, but to protect Tesla and his ego – to win.
In addition to this adversarial stance against his customers, the passage suggests that his initial idea was to collect this info without informing the driver, with the idea of adding a data privacy pop-up only coming later in the discussion.
Musk was not happy. The concept of “privacy teams” did not warm his heart. “I am the decision-maker at this company, not the privacy team,” he said. “I don’t even know who they are. They are so private you never know who they are.” There were some nervous laughs. “Perhaps we can have a pop-up where we tell people that if they use FSD [Full Self-Driving], we will collect data in the event of a crash,” he suggested. “Would that be okay?”
The woman thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “As long as we are communicating it to customers, I think we’re okay with that.”
-WALTER ISAACSON, ELON MUSK
Here, it’s notable that Musk says he is the decision-maker and that he doesn’t even know who the privacy team is.
In recent years and months, Musk has seemed increasingly distracted in his management of Tesla, recently focusing much more on Twitter than on the company that has catapulted him to the top of the list of the world’s richest people.
It might be good for him to have some idea of who the people working under him are, especially the privacy team, for a company that has active cameras running on the road, and in people’s cars and garages, all around the world, all the time – particularly when Tesla is currently facing a class action lawsuit over video privacy.
In April, it was revealed that Tesla employees shared videos recorded inside owners’ garages, including videos of people who were unclothed and ones where some personally identifiable information was attached. And in Illinois, a separate class action lawsuit focuses on the cabin camera specifically.
While Tesla does have a dedicated page describing its data privacy approach, a new independent analysis released last week by the Mozilla Foundation ranked Tesla in last place among car brands – and ranked cars as the worst product category Mozilla has ever seen in terms of privacy.
So, this blithe dismissal of the privacy team’s concerns does not seem productive and does seem to have had the expected result in terms of Tesla’s privacy performance.
Musk is known for making sudden pronouncements, demanding that a particular feature be added or subtracted, and going against the advice of engineers to be the “decision-maker” – regardless of whether the decision is the right one. Similar behavior has been seen in his leadership of Twitter, where he has dismantled trust & safety teams, and in the chaos of the takeover, he “may have jeopardized data privacy and security,” according to the DOJ.
While we don’t have a date for this particular discussion, it does seem to have happened at least post-2021, after the sudden deletion of radar from Tesla vehicles. The deletion of radar itself is an example of one of these sudden demands by Musk, which Tesla is now having to walk back.
For its part, Tesla does currently have a warning in the car that describes what the company will do with the data from your internal camera. This is what it looks like currently in a Model 3:
Tesla’s online Model 3 owner’s manual contains similar language describing the use of the cabin camera.
Notably, this language focuses on safety rather than driver monitoring. Tesla explicitly says that the camera data doesn’t leave the vehicle unless the owner opts in and that the data will help with future safety and functionality improvements. But also says that the data is not attached to a VIN, nor is it used for identity verification.
Beyond that, we also have not seen Tesla defend itself in any autopilot lawsuits or investigations by using the cabin camera explicitly – at least not yet. With driver monitoring in focus in the current NHTSA investigation, it’s entirely possible that we might see more usage of this camera in the future or that camera clips are being used as part of the investigation.
But at the very least, this language in current Teslas does suggest that Musk did not get his wish – perhaps to the relief of some of the more privacy-interested Tesla drivers.
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Members of the US energy industry has committed to investing $100 billion over the next five years to build and buy American-made batteries for large, utility-scale deployments of battery energy storage systems (BESS).
Executives from the American Clean Power Association (ACP) and several utility company representatives said Tuesday that they were committed to a fivefold increase in active investments that could, according to the Association, lead to 100% American-made BESS projects – but that vision depends on both a streamlined permitting environment and predictable tax and trade policy, the ACP said.
This commitments “demonstrate what success can look like,” said ACP CEO Jason Grumet, adding that many industry players have been waiting in a sort of holding pattern until some long-term clarity develops around Trump’s tariff and trade policies. “There is a remarkable tension right now between probably the best fundamentals for investment in the energy sector that we’ve seen in a generation and the greatest amount of uncertainty that we’ve seen in a generation.”
Those fundamentals involve rapidly dropping battery costs with increasing density – and that efficiency improvement is coming with reliability, too, Hyundai joining Tesla (and others) in delivering batteries good for hundreds of thousands of miles of driving. The tension, of course, comes from the fact that most batteries, today, are made in Asia.
Form Energy CEO Mateo Jaramillo says his company sources more than 80% of its battery content in the US and much of the rest from Europe and “non-China Asia.” And, while they’re working to re-shore even more, they remain exposed to heavily tariffed Chinese-made inputs.
Form eventually hopes to source raw iron from US mines in Michigan and Minnesota – and they’re not alone. Executives from other companies spoke up as well:
COVID-era disruptions across the global battery supply chain convinced Fluence that an energy storage market as robust as the United States’ needed a stronger domestic manufacturing base, Fluence Americas President John Zurancik said in the press briefing. The company’s U.S. investments are now bearing fruit as it expects to deliver its first U.S.-made lithium-iron-phosphate, or LFP, batteries this week for deployment later this year, he said.
Like Fluence, LG Energy Solution Vertech expects to significantly expand its U.S. manufacturing operations in 2025 and 2026. The South Korean battery powerhouse will adapt existing production lines at its Holland, Michigan, factory to deliver 16.5 GWh of stationary storage batteries this year and add 11 GWh of new capacity in 2026, its CEO said in a statement provided by ACP.
Even industry stalwarts like Wärtsilä have begun sourcing components for the container-based Quantum 3 BESS system we covered last summer from a geographically diverse set of suppliers, with manufacturing capacity across different regions of North America, Asia, and Europe. This should enable the company’s customers to take advantage of any local tax incentives while avoiding the kind of tariffs impacting global battery markets.
The ACP’s announcement adds about $85 billion to a set of “active investments” worth $10 billion to $15 billion, executives with the trade group said in a press briefing.
Electrek’s Take
Battery energy storage just makes sense – and it’s being leveraged in smart ways by companies like Zenobē, who are using smart BESS deployments to help hold down ratepayer costs while improving grid resilience and reliability. Volvo, too, is working to develop rapidly deployable BESS solutions that can support temporary job sites and disaster relief efforts.
Then there’s the rich people. Located in Abu Dhabi, the world’s largest storage project will feature a 5.2 GW solar PV plant coupled with a 19 gigawatt-hour (GWh) BESS. You can check that out here, then let us know what you think of all these projects in the comments.
SOURCE: Utility Dive; featured image via Wärtsilä.
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Ava Community Energy just rolled out a new program in California that pays EV and plug-in hybrid drivers for charging their cars when electricity on the grid is cleaner and cheaper.
The new Ava SmartHome Charging program, launched in partnership with home energy analytics platform Optiwatt, offers up to $100 in incentives in the first year. And because the program helps shift home charging to lower-cost hours, Ava says drivers could save around $140 a year on their energy bills.
EV and PHEV owners who are Ava customers can download the Optiwatt app for free, connect their vehicle, and let the app handle the rest. The app uses an algorithm to automatically schedule charging when demand is low and more renewable energy is available, typically overnight or during off-peak hours.
“Ava is on a mission to provide 100% clean energy to our customers by 2030,” said CEO Howard Chang. “This new program helps us get there by giving people an easy way to charge on more renewable energy while simultaneously saving money.”
Drivers who enroll get a $75 bonus for joining, and can earn an extra $25 per year if they stay enrolled. Optiwatt shifts charging to off-peak times, and it takes into account the customer’s individual schedules and preferences.
Casey Donahue, who founded Optiwatt, says this program is a win for everyone. “We can move a lot of energy use to cleaner, more affordable times by using smart algorithms and the growing EV base,” he said. “That benefits every Ava customer.”
The program is available to most EVs and plug-in hybrids. All it takes is signing up through the Optiwatt app (iOS, Android, or web) and completing a quick verification process. Savings and rewards start right away.
The Oakland-based not-for-profit public power provider aims to enroll at least 5,000 vehicles by the end of 2025. The company says this program is the first step in a broader virtual power plant (VPP) strategy. It’s powered by Lunar Energy’s Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) platform, Gridshare, which will help Ava coordinate energy from EVs, home batteries, and more.
Ava Community Energy was founded in 2018 and now serves 2 million people in Alameda County, California, and the cities of Tracy, Stockton, and Lathrop.
Read more: California now has nearly 50% more EV chargers than gas nozzles
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Environment
Jeep is teasing the new Grand Cherokee, but where’s the EV version of its best-selling SUV?
The Grand Cherokee is due for a refresh, and we just got our first look at it. Jeep claimed “the next chapter in the story of America’s best-selling full-size SUV begins” after releasing the first official images of the updated model. When will we see the Jeep Grand Cherokee as an EV?
2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee first look
Days after revealing the new Compass, Jeep is teasing another refreshed model, its best-selling Grand Cherokee.
Although it was the best-selling full-size SUV in the US last year, the Grand Cherokee is due for an update. The latest model was launched in 2021, but Jeep added a two-row version in 2022.
It remained Jeep’s top seller in the US last year with over 216,000 models sold, but sales were down 12% compared to 2023. It was also one of the best-selling plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles, with over 27,500 4xe models
Jeep is giving us our first official look at the updated 2026 Grand Cherokee, inside and out. The first image previews the front end, which features new LED headlights and a revamped seven-slot grille, similar to the new Compass.
The interior is restyled with a simplified setup and other minor infotainment and climate control display adjustments. The preview also shows an added passenger screen.
When will Jeep launch the Grand Cherokee EV?
Jeep will continue to assemble the updated SUV in Detroit. The new 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee will be available as a two-row, three-row L, and a plug-in hybrid 4xe, but when will we see an EV version? The outgoing 4xe model is already one of the top three selling PHEVs in the US, so a fully electric version would make sense.
As part of its 2023 agreement with the UAW, Jeep revealed plans to launch the Grand Cherokee EV in 2027. It was scheduled to be built at the Detroit Assembly Complex, but plans have likely changed since then.
Jeep’s new Compass will be available as an EV, but only in Europe. At least for now. Stellantis halted operations at its Brampton Assembly plant earlier this year, where the Compass is built, as it “reassesses its product strategy in North America.”
For those in the US, Jeep currently offers one EV. The Wagoneer S (pictured on the left above), Jeep’s first global electric SUV, starts at $65,200 and has a range of up to 294 miles.
Later this year, Jeep is expected to launch the Recon EV (pictured on the right above), a rugged electric SUV like a Wrangler.
Jeep is currently offering employee pricing plus an extra $1,500 cash allowance on top of the $7,500 EV tax credit on 2025 Wagoneer S models. If you’re looking to snag some savings, you can use our link to find Jeep Wagoneer S models in your area today.
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