Tesla employees share confidential images

• Tesla employees shared videos captured by owners’ cars on an internal messaging system, Reuters reported.
• They circulated clips showing car crashes and the inside of owners’ garages.
• Tesla did not return a request for comment from Reuters or Insider.

Tesla employees peered into customers’ personal lives and garages using the suite of cameras built into owners’ vehicles, Reuters reported on Thursday.

From 2019 to 2022, some Tesla workers circulated humorous, shocking, or invasive videos on a company messaging system, nine former employees told the outlet.

Tesla did not return requests for comment from Reuters or Insider.

Teslas use cameras to power their driver-assistance systems like Autopilot, which follows lane lines and monitors the movement of nearby vehicles. The vehicles also come with a feature called Sentry Mode, a surveillance system that records any fishy-seeming activity near a car while it’s parked.

Employees shared videos of car crashes, road-rage incidents, and some more embarrassing moments. One former employee described a clip of a naked man walking up to a vehicle.

More than a dozen employees spoke to Reuters about the incidents, the outlet said. Other former employees told Reuters they only saw images shared for legitimate work purposes, like identifying correct labels.

They also circulated clips from inside owners’ garages, particularly if the garage contained something notable, one source told Reuters. A few years back, some employees came across a garage with a white Lotus Espirit from a 1970s James Bond movie, Reuters said. Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought the movie prop in 2013 for around $1 million.

On its website, Tesla says its camera system is “designed from the ground up to protect your privacy.” Camera recordings are only shared with Tesla if owners opt to do so, the company says.

Read the full Reuters story here.

Read the original article on Business Insider