--- title: "Experts Alarmed by Videos of Tesla Full Self-Driving Totally Screwing Up" description: "So much for Tesla having the most advanced self-driving technology in the world." date: "2022-02-12" modified: "2022-02-12" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/experts-alarmed-tesla-fsd" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Self-Driving Vehicles" - "Tesla" tags: - "automotive" - "Autonomous vehicles" - "full self-driving" - "tesla" --- # Experts Alarmed by Videos of Tesla Full Self-Driving Totally Screwing Up ![So much for Tesla having the most advanced self-driving technology in the world.]() *\Image: AI Addict via YouTube\* So much for Tesla having the most advanced self-driving technology in the world. A [panel of experts assembled by *The Washington Post*]() have reviewed and verified footage of Teslas equipped with the company's beta Full Self-Diving (FSD) malfunctioning in terrifying ways. Unsurprisingly, they found that the driver assistance tech is likely doing more harm than good. In early February 2022, Tesla was forced to [issue software updates to almost 54,000 of its cars]() that feature the company's signature FSD program due to the cars' propensity to [not completely stop at stop signs](). An increasing number of videos posted by Tesla drivers of their self-driving cars going haywire, though, seem to show that the issues with FSD go far beyond rolling stops. After reviewing six such videos, *WaPo*'s panel of experts suggested that FSD may be too dangerous to use on public roads. In one of the more alarming analyses, the six experts — whose backgrounds include self-driving research, autonomous vehicle safety analysis and self-driving development — pointed out that one video of a Tesla not slowing down enough when a pedestrian crosses light rail tracks shows the Tesla FSD's difficulty recognizing pedestrian walk signs and doesn't seem able to understand that pedestrians may walk off sidewalks and into the roadway. Another of the more upsetting videos reviewed by the *WaPo*'s panel details how the FSD prompted its driver to take over control of the vehicle when becoming confused by a truck partially blocking the street, but when the driver does so, they struggle to actually get control back from the driver assistance program and has to sharply turn the wheel repeatedly to do so. "I am taking over,” the driver says in the vehicle while jerking the wheel. "I’m — I’m trying." "It’s unclear who exactly is in control at that moment," Andrew Maynard, an Arizona State University professor who works in the school's Risk Innovation Lab, told *WaPo*. "There’s an odd glitch here where there seems to be a short fight for control between the driver and the car. It appears there are scenarios where both driver and car potentially lose control at some points." The glitch revealed in that video, Maynard added, is "important" because it demonstrates potential difficulties in "the ability of the human driver to ensure safety" in case of such malfunction. https://twitter.com/TaylorOgan/status/1488555256162172928 Along with the experts' analysis about the dangers posed by Tesla's nascent FSD, *WaPo* also spoke to the drivers behind the videos to confirm their veracity — and one, identified only as Chris from Fenton, Michigan, said that after using his Tesla's driver assistance program for about a year, he thinks it'll be another decade before the program is truly be ready to be taken on the road. Expert criticism of Tesla is almost a cottage industry at this point, but for a Tesla owner himself to admit that the manufacturer's self-driving mode isn't ready for public consumption is striking. **READ MORE:** [‘Full Self-Driving’ clips show owners of Teslas fighting for control, and experts see deep flaws]() \[*The Washington Post*\] **More on FSDreams:** *[Watch Elon Musk Promise Self-Driving Cars “Next Year” Every Year Since 2014]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()