Tesla spy scandal: employees shared private camera recordings from customer cars – report

Sensitive images and videos recorded by Tesla’s in-built cameras have been shared by the electric-car giant’s employees via its internal communications network, an investigation by journalists in the US and UK has found. 

A trio of journalists from news agency Reuters interviewed nine ex-Tesla employees who blew the whistle on their former colleagues, detailing how in-built cameras in the privately-owned electric cars led to personal moments caught on camera being distributed within the company.

The former Tesla staff members alleged the employees who shared the images and videos worked in the electric-car giant’s data labelling team – a group which analyses footage gathered from the cameras to label objects, such as pedestrians and street signs, so the in-car computer can better understand what they are.

Tesla’s in-car cameras enable its semi-autonomous driver assistance systems – marketed as ‘Autopilot’ and ‘Full Self-Driving’ – to scan the road ahead and identify potential hazards, providing warnings to drivers to take evasive action, or apply the brakes if necessary.

The former Tesla employees told Reuters there were multiple instances between 2019 and 2022 where sensitive videos were shared for humour through the company’s internal communications network, either in one-on-one private conversations or to a wider group of staff.

According to the former employees interviewed by the news agency Reuters, most of the pictures and videos were considered harmless, though footage of a child being hit by a Tesla while riding a bicycle reportedly spread around the electric-car giant’s office “like wildfire”.

Tesla’s “Customer Privacy Notice” states the “camera recordings remain anonymous and are not linked to you or your vehicle”, however the former employees told Reuters there were multiple instances where the data showed the location of the recordings – potentially revealing where customers lived.

“We could see inside people's garages and their private properties,” one former employee told Reuters journalists. “Let's say that a Tesla customer had something in their garage that was distinctive, you know, people would post those kinds of things.”

Due to privacy concerns, a number of government compounds and residential neighbourhoods in China have banned Tesla’s in-built car camera system from operating in certain areas.

An ex-Tesla staff member said they were concerned about the recordings being shared – in addition to potential breaches of privacy by the car’s built-in cameras.

“I’m bothered by it because the people who buy the car, I don't think they know that their privacy is, like, not respected … we could see them doing laundry and really intimate things. We could see their kids.”

The former Tesla employees also claimed the distribution of certain images and footage – which had been turned into ‘memes’ by their colleagues – often resulted in praise from co-workers, encouraging the practice to continue despite being in violation of company policy.

According to Reuters, Tesla did not respond to requests for comment regarding the potential privacy breaches.