NV said in a USA securities filing on Friday that its top executives were assured by Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:) Chief Executive Elon Musk that drivers of the company’s electric cars would not be allowed to take their hands off the wheel when using the “Autopilot” driving assistance system, but Tesla later allowed hands-free driving over Mobileye’s objections. The email was reportedly signed with Musk’s initials and sent a few hours before the release of Tesla’s second-quarter financial report. “This could have resulted in highly valuable information being improperly disclosed”, he said.
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The lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, claimed that the chief financial officer for Quest Integrity Group, Todd Katz, emailed Tesla’s chief financial officer using a similar email address to Musk’s.
Forbes reports that the Quest Integrity Group has partnerships with major oil companies which include ExxonMobil, BP, and Chevron.
Soon after receiving the email, Tesla launched an investigation to pinpoint the culprit behind the message.
It’s unknown if this is the first time Tesla employees have received emails from people impersonating Musk.
According to Bloomberg, Tesla believes that the email was an oil industry tactic to undermine the electric carmaker’s push for sustainable transportation.
In response, a Tesla spokeswoman had initially said the company never advertised its Autopilot as a self-driving technology or its cars as autonomous vehicles.
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Quest Integrity Group, a Seattle-based oil pipeline engineering and inspection firm, said it’s looking into a claim that its finance chief impersonated Elon Musk in an e-mail to get inside information on Tesla Motors, while calling “absurd” the electric vehicle maker’s allegation of an oil industry conspiracy against alternative energy firms. In the suit, which Forbes obtained first and you can read in full below, Tesla didn’t divulge how they managed to connect the email to Katz, Quest Integrity, and the 10 “Doe Defendants”, but they claim that “on information and belief”, they can say that Katz created the “[email protected]” account and that 10 other individuals were involved.
