Justice Department probes Tesla over self-driving car system

Driving the news: "The company has received requests from the DOJ for documents related to Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD features," Tesla said in a public filing, referring to its "full self-driving" capability.

• "To our knowledge no government agency in any ongoing investigation has concluded that any wrongdoing occurred," Tesla added.
• The Justice Department, which typically does not discuss ongoing investigations, did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
• Reuters reported in October that it's a criminal investigation.

Zoom out: Autopilot has been under fire for years from auto safety watchdogs who say the system inspires too much faith in users who don't understand its shortcomings.

• The company's past claims about the system's capabilities also came under fresh scrutiny earlier this month when a Tesla engineer testified in court that a 2016 video "used to promote its self-driving technology was staged to show capabilities like stopping at a red light and accelerating at a green light that the system did not have," Reuters reported.

The other side: Musk told investors last week in a conference call that "we still don't even know really who would even be a distant second" to Tesla on self-driving technology.

• "I mean, right now I don't think you could see second place with a telescope," he said. "At least we can't."