Tesla staffers are accused of sharing clips of unwitting customers recorded by cars’ cameras including naked man, ‘sexual wellness items’ and even Elon Musk’s garage, which contained white Lotus submarine from James Bond movie

• A shocking new report says that Tesla employees would regularly share personal videos of customers
• The clips were recorded on the car’s integrated cameras and were shared across an internal messaging platform
• Those who shared the funniest clips were rewarded with promotions and the use of company cars, staffers told Reuters 

A bombshell new reports has exposed Tesla staffers as sharing videos of customers, including one showing a naked man approaching a car, another showing ‘sexual wellness items’ while yet another exposed Elon Musk as owning the white Lotus submarine from The Spy Who Loved Me.

The leaked clips were all recorded on Tesla’s integrated dashcams and were shared through the internal messaging network Mattermost between 2019 and 2022, reports Reuters. 

An employee told the agency that the clips spread ‘like wildfire’ through the company, with some even using the videos to make memes.

‘We could see them doing laundry and really intimate things. We could see their kids,’ said the staffer. According to the report, the camera was able to record people’s lives because it was charging. 

Tesla employees, known as labelers, who work with the company’s AI system to help it to identify things in every day life were privy to the footage. The report says that those who shared the funniest clips even earned promotions with Tesla. 

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk has not commented on the shocking new Reuters report, it’s unclear if he was aware of the practice

One of the integrated cameras shown on a Tesla in April 2021

Nicknamed ‘Wet Nellie,’ the white Lotus Esprit sub had been featured in the 1977 James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me. The car was purchased by Musk in 2013

‘People who got promoted to lead positions shared a lot of these funny items and gained notoriety for being funny,’ a labeler told Reuters. 

At times, Tesla managers would crack down on inappropriate sharing of images on public Mattermost channels since they claimed the practice violated company policy. 

Still, screenshots and memes based on them continued to circulate through private chats on the platform, several ex-employees said. Workers shared them one-on-one or in small groups as recently as the middle of last year.

One of the perks of working for Tesla as a data labeler in San Mateo was the chance to win a prize – use of a company car for a day or two, according to two former employees.

But some of the lucky winners became paranoid when driving the electric cars.

‘Knowing how much data those vehicles are capable of collecting definitely made folks nervous,’ one ex-employee said.

Tesla vehicles that are outfitted with self-driving capabilities are equipped with eight cameras. 

The cameras aid in self-driving and parking. ‘No one but you would have knowledge of your activities, location or a history of where you’ve been,’ the motoring giant’s privacy policy reads. 

One of the perks of working for Tesla as a data labeler in San Mateo was the chance to win a prize – use of a company car for a day or two, according to two former employees

‘It was a breach of privacy, to be honest. And I always joked that I would never buy a Tesla after seeing how they treated some of these people,’ said one former employee

However staffers told Reuters that cameras record street signs and other landmarks that can easily identify a driver’s whereabouts. The privacy policy does not mention how employees handle the recorded footage. 

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

About three years ago, some employees stumbled upon and shared a video of a unique submersible vehicle parked inside a garage, according to two people who viewed it. 

Nicknamed ‘Wet Nellie,’ the white Lotus Esprit sub had been featured in the 1977 James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me. 

Musk, who had bought it for about $968,000 at an auction in 2013. It is not clear whether Musk was aware of the video or that it had been shared.

Two ex-employees said they weren’t bothered by the sharing of images, saying that customers had given their consent or that people long ago had given up any reasonable expectation of keeping personal data private. 

Three others, however, said they were troubled by it.

‘It was a breach of privacy, to be honest. And I always joked that I would never buy a Tesla after seeing how they treated some of these people,’ said one former employee.

Another said: ‘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.’

Tesla’s ‘sentry mode’ which records a car’s surroundings, has caused a series of disputes in countries from China to the Netherlands.

The company says the function is to protect from theft or vandalism but authorities worry lead to filming without consent. 

A lawsuit filed in Germany by the consumer advocacy group VZBZ in July alleged that the carmaker was misleading consumers by not informing them in advertising that the driver could be violating data protection regulation if the feature was used in public spaces and filmed passers-by without their knowledge.

After a hearing on the case in Berlin, the company issued a cease-and-desist declaration stating it would no longer advertise that way, according to a statement by VZBZ.

The carmaker’s manual for buyers in the U.S. states that ‘it is your sole responsibility to consult and comply with all local regulations and property restrictions regarding the use of cameras.’ 

Reuters contacted more than 300 former Tesla employees who had worked at the company over the past nine years and were involved in developing its self-driving system. 

More than a dozen agreed to answer questions, all speaking on condition of anonymity.

Reuters wasn’t able to obtain any of the shared videos or images, which ex-employees said they hadn’t kept. 

The news agency also wasn’t able to determine if the practice of sharing recordings, which occurred within some parts of Tesla as recently as last year, continues today or how widespread it was. 

Some former employees contacted said the only sharing they observed was for legitimate work purposes, such as seeking assistance from colleagues or supervisors.

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