Aug 5 (Reuters) - Elon Musk and Tesla were sued

by shareholders who accused them of securities fraud for

concealing the significant risk that the company's self-driving

vehicles, including the Robotaxi, were dangerous.

The proposed class action was filed on Monday night,

following Tesla's first public test of its robotaxis in late

June in the company's Austin, Texas, hometown.

That test showed the vehicles speeding, braking

suddenly, driving over a curb, entering the wrong lane, and

dropping off passengers in the middle of multilane roads.

Tesla's share price fell 6.1% over two trading days after

the test began, wiping out about $68 billion of market value.

Musk and his electric vehicle maker were accused of

repeatedly overstating the effectiveness of and prospects for

their autonomous driving technology, inflating Tesla's financial

prospects and stock price.

Shareholders said this included Musk's assurance on an April

22 conference call that Tesla was "laser-focused on bringing

robotaxi to Austin in June," and Tesla's claim the same day that

its approach to autonomous driving would deliver "scalable and

safe deployment across diverse geographies and use cases."

Tesla did not immediately respond on Tuesday to requests

for comment. Chief Financial Officer Viabhav Taneja and his

predecessor Zachary Kirkhorn are also defendants.

Expanding robotaxis is

crucial

for Tesla as the company faces falling demand for its aging

electric vehicles and a backlash over Musk's politics.

Musk, the world's richest person, wants to offer the

service to half the U.S. population by year end, but must

convince regulators and assure the public his technology is

safe.

Monday's lawsuit in Austin federal court is led by Tesla

shareholder Denise Morand, and seeks damages for shareholders

between April 19, 2023 and June 22, 2025.

A Florida jury on August 1 found Tesla 33% responsible for a

2019 crash involving its self-driving software, which killed a

22-year-old woman and injured her boyfriend, and ordered it to

pay about $243 million in damages to victims. Tesla blamed the

driver and plans to appeal.

The case is Morand v Tesla Inc ( TSLA ) et al, U.S. District

Court, Western District of Texas, No. 25-01213.