--- title: "Tesla Insiders Admit Self-Driving Is a Complete Disaster" description: "Ten former Tesla safety employees shared their concerns about the company's infamous full self-driving mode." date: "2026-05-29" modified: "2026-05-29" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/advanced-transport/tesla-insiders-self-driving-disaster" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Electric Vehicles" - "Elon Musk" - "Finance" - "Future Society" - "Investing" - "Self-Driving Vehicles" - "Tesla" - "The Industrialists" --- # Tesla Insiders Admit Self-Driving Is a Complete Disaster ![A black and white image of Elon Musk wearing his DOGE hat in front of a red and orange background.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Tom Brenner For The Washington Post via Getty Images* It turns out not even the people building Tesla's self-driving tech trust Elon Musk's extravagant claims about the company's autonomous vehicles. New [reporting by *Reuters*]() interviewed nine former data labelers and a former self-driving engineer about their take on Tesla's Full Self-Driving mode. The results were overwhelmingly negative, with seven of the data specialists admitting they wouldn't ride in a Tesla in FSD. "We have all seen it fail," one Tesla insider told *Reuters*. "Definitely don't trust Elon on this," the self-driving engineer concurred, referencing [Musks' declaration]() that the the vehicles are ready for "safe unsupervised" rides. One erstwhile worker told the publication they wouldn't ride in a Tesla robotaxi "if you f\*\*king paid me." At least five data labelers, whose job was to comb through hours of FSD footage to train the vehicle's software to avoid past mistakes, told *Reuters* they routinely saw clips of Teslas driving above the speed limit, an issue which engineers and managers treated like a low-priority compared to [edge-case issues](). Those glowing recommendations come amidst concerns that Tesla's FSD mode may never be [truly safe enough]() for public roads. In recent months, Tesla operating on FSD move have driven riders [into lakes](), [off bridges](), and even into the path of [oncoming trains]() — and those are just the incidents that get media exposure. Given these insiders' direct access to terabytes' worth of proprietary FSD footage, we're inclined to take their word on it. **More on Tesla:** *[Man Drives Cybertruck Into Lake to Test Elon Musk's "Boat" Claims, and It Went About as Well as You'd Guess]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()