Dan O'Dowd Senate campaign targeting Tesla's self-driving cars
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Over the past month, there's a fairly good chance you have the video. It is clip after clip, essentially bashing Tesla's self-driving technology for a full minute. And it's on the airwaves all over California.
It turns out it is a political ad from U.S. Senate candidate Dan O'Dowd. If you're confused, you're not alone.
Question: So you're running for US Senate, but then the message is ' Tesla software is terrible', do I have that right?
O'Dowd: Well that's the beginning, that's part of the message. The whole message is much bigger.
Here's the thing. O'Dowd isn't wrong about the problems with Tesla's Autopilot. If you've been in one, you know firsthand that it can make some unexpected maneuvers.
O'Dowd is running as a single issue candidate, essentially using Tesla is a way to segue into the broader issue of cyber security. He says our infrastructure, power grids, hospitals and yes, self driving cars, are all at risk of cyber attack.
"I view this as the biggest problem of our time, even bigger than nuclear weapons," he told KPIX. "My slogan is making computers safer for humanity. We gotta find those computers, we gotta disconnect them, We got a reprogram then, So that they can't be hacked, so they won't fail and leave us defenseless."
Question: What about homelessness, what about the environment, what about the drought?
O'Dowd: Well, when they bring down the power grid everyone will be homeless. You won't be able to go anywhere. I just think it's a more important issue.
O'Dowd became a billionaire after founding Green Hills Software in 1992. He sells software to automakers, related to self driving, but says he's not a competitor to Tesla, and there is no conflict of interest.
Question: So in begs the question is this an actual real run for senate or is this just to try and draw attention to the cyber security issue in our country?
O'Dowd: It is both. But by not taking positions on other issues, I'm letting people make that decision on this single issue. Is this is the most important, keeping everyone safe, vote for me. If you think some of those other issues are important, vote for a candidate who supports those positions.
Nolan Higdon is a history and communications professor at CSU Eastbay, and did not mince his words about O'Dowd's wealth.
"This sounds like a very wealthy individual possibly oozing with narcissism and hubris," Higdon told KPIX. "Who thinks just because of their wealth there's somehow entitled to this position."
"I want to be polite about this because I think he's a good person and his heart's in the right place," San Francisco State Professor Joe Tuman added. "But it's demonstrating a bit of naïveté about how politics work."
Tuman says for O'Dowd to be taken seriously, he'll have to talk about more than just self driving cars.
"Basically, as I said at the beginning of this, just stays in his own lane, then what he's telling us is that he's not comfortable discussing these other things," Tuman said. "He's just comfortable with what he knows. If you're going to serve in the Senate, you have to know a hell of a lot more than that."
