--- title: "Tesla Fans Try Coast-to-Coast Self-Driving Trip, Crash Almost Immediately" description: "The vehicle seemingly failed to recognize a pretty clear obstacle on the highway — and so much the worse for the Tesla fans' roadtrip." date: "2025-09-23" modified: "2025-09-23" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/advanced-transport/tesla-coast-to-coast-self-driving-crash" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Self-Driving Vehicles" - "Tesla" --- # Tesla Fans Try Coast-to-Coast Self-Driving Trip, Crash Almost Immediately ![The vehicle seemingly failed to recognize a pretty clear obstacle on the highway — and so much the worse for the Tesla fans' roadtrip.]() *Screenshots via Bearded Tesla Guy / YouTube* Two Tesla influencers were riding in a brand new Model Y "Juniper," a refreshed version of the automaker's most popular car. Sitting in the driver's seat was the content creator "Bearded Tesla Guy," who'd just begun a coast-to-coast road trip with his friend to put the vehicle's "Full Self-Driving" tech to a continent-spanning test. They barely made it 60 miles. In a [video]() shared by Bearded Tesla and [spotted by *Electrek*](), a small obstacle is clearly visible on the stretch of freeway ahead. At first, the passenger remarks it "looks like roadkill." But as they speed toward the object, it becomes obvious that it's something human-made and sturdy. The Full Self-Driving software doesn't seem to take notice, though. The Tesla barrels over the object and bounces from the road dramatically. After considerable airtime, it makes a hard landing, and the driver finally intervenes by forcing the car to pull over. They hadn't even left California, and the car had already crashed. "This is not how I anticipated it starting," Bearded Tesla can heard saying in the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMppm1m6jio The object, it turned out, was some kind of metal girder that likely fell off the back of a truck. No one was hurt, but the vehicle took a beating. According to *Electrek,* the road-tripping pair confirmed in a follow-up video that the Model Y had a broken sway bar bracket and damaged suspension. It's yet another incident that should raise serious questions about the capabilities of Tesla's self-driving software, which CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly [insisted]() is capable of driving by itself. Making this crash particularly ironic, Musk nearly a decade ago said that by 2018, Teslas [would be able to drive themselves across the entire country]() — without even a driver inside supervising it. Despite its name implying otherwise, the driving mode still requires constant human supervision and isn't considered to be autonomous. The California DMV sued Tesla for this spurious naming scheme a few years back, [accusing the automaker of false advertising](). Officially, Tesla has updated FSD's name to "Full Self-Driving (Supervised)," but it's a ludicrous oxymoron and a name that's rarely spoken in full anyway, allowing it to get away with the impression that its cars are as capable as human drivers even when the fine print clearly states otherwise. Tesla cars running Full Self-Driving or its no-less-misleading cousin Autopilot have been involved in hundreds of accidents, some of them deadly, and this one in particular brings to mind Musk's stubborn refusal to use lidar sensors — which [he once called]() a "crutch" — to help his cars see. Instead, he's embraced a "vision only" approach that relies solely on the car's cameras to detect its surroundings, something critics say [could be the automaker's undoing](). Yes, the driver should've intervened here. But the tech also should've realized a pretty large obstacle on the road ahead. It made no attempt to drive around the object or even apply the brakes. Maybe if it had other sensors that don't get blinded by sunlight, it would've. "I'm speechless on what just happened," the cameraman said. "Absolutely speechless." **More on Tesla:** [*Self-Driving Teslas Keep Driving Into the Path of Oncoming Trains*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()