Free Pages: EN — LARRY ROMANOFF — Debunking Elon Musk – Part 23 — Tesla Self-Driving Fraud and Fail (Part 3 of 4)

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

EN — LARRY ROMANOFF — Debunking Elon Musk – Part 23 — Tesla Self-Driving Fraud and Fail (Part 3 of 4)

Debunking Elon Musk – Part 23

Tesla Self-Driving Fraud and Fail (Part 3 of 4)

Typical result of driving with Tesla FSD. Source:

Contents

Introduction

The (Imaginary) Appreciating Asset

The (Real) Depreciating Asset

Fundamental Flaws of Tesla’s FSD

Why did Tesla abandon radar and LIDAR?

Espionage and Population Suppression

FSD Critical Limitations

Uncontrolled and Irresponsible

FSD Crashes, Injuries, Deaths

Tesla FSD Fraudulent Videos: -Killing Children and Walter Huang

Desperate Secrecy

FSD Subscriptions

Tesla FSD in China

Introduction

A long series of Tesla’s frauds and fails involves the company’s “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) feature. Elon Musk repeatedly – and falsely – promoted FSD as autonomous, when it was no such thing. His claims constituted criminal fraud on a grand scale, since Tesla autos using FSD had, by 2025, been involved in around 1,000 accidents and about 100 fatalities. The Washington Post reported that Tesla’s vaunted “autopilot” technology was responsible for about 95% of the US crashes involving driver assistance. [1] In fact, reports are that Tesla’s FSD has been involved in far more accidents than the systems from all other manufacturers combined. [2] Yet Musk blithely still maintains that “cars operating in Tesla’s Autopilot mode are safer than those piloted solely by human drivers”. [3] For these reasons, Tesla has been repeatedly under criminal investigation in the US and Europe, and is prohibited in China. [4] Elon Musk insists on marketing the system as “Full Self-Driving”, but regulators class it as only a Level 2 ADAS system, requiring constant driver supervision. This is one reason it is blocked in China. In Europe, “testing” is limited to Norway and the Netherlands, and only under strict supervision. It is only in the US where Tesla is being politically supported (by both the government and the courts) in spite of the rash of serious accidents and deaths.

US prosecutors have repeatedly investigated Tesla for misleading investors and consumers about its FSD capabilities, including statements by Elon Musk that Tesla cars can drive themselves. These agencies separately investigated hundreds of crashes, including fatal ones, of Teslas with FSD engaged. These are criminal investigations [5] involving securities fraud, wire fraud, deception in interstate communications, misleading consumers, consumer fraud, false advertising, and deceiving investors.

In 2025, the government of California filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk and Tesla for lying about the effectiveness of FSD. The lawsuit claims Musk and Tesla were deceiving buyers to believe Tesla cars could function autonomously “which they could not and cannot do”, constituting false advertising and consumer fraud. [6] The government planned to ban the sale of Tesla cars in California for some stated period. In similar circumstances, a German court convicted Tesla of false advertising, and the use of FSD in Germany is now prohibited – while Tesla opens a factory in Germany. [7]

The news is even more disturbing, because Tesla and Elon Musk seem to have a congenital habit of blaming the victim for all of Tesla’s FSD erratic behavior, accidents and fatalities. Tesla installs games in their cars – for drivers to play while the car is moving, but then blames 1,000 accidents and 100 deaths plus all other mishaps on “inattentive drivers”. One news source reflected the majority opinion by stating that Musk and Tesla attribute all FSD events to irresponsible drivers. Neither Tesla nor Elon Musk are ever to blame, nor do they accept any responsibility for malfunctions, accidents or fatalities. According to Musk: “If something goes wrong with Autopilot, it’s because someone is misusing it.” [8] This is a classic “blame the victim” philosophy, where responsibility is always diffused. I covered this aspect in an earlier article on Elon Musk’s corporate character. [9] You might find it of interest.

The FSD software is so flawed that almost all the Teslas sold in the US since inception have had to be recalled, in many cases more than once. In 2024, Tesla sold less than 4% of the vehicles in the US, but had nearly 20% of all recalls. [10] [11] But it seems that recalls and software updates often make things worse, rather than better. A reporter for The Washington Post wrote in December of 2023 that his Tesla Model Y received an FSD update “to make it safer”, and immediately after, “it blew through two stop signs without even slowing down”. He wrote that after Tesla’s recall “I don’t feel much safer – and neither should you”. [12] It is noteworthy that this particular recall was Tesla’s largest, affecting more or less every Tesla ever sold.

It is now a matter of widespread ridicule that Elon Musk has been fantasising publicly about Tesla’s full self-driving future for more than a decade, claiming “Full Self-Driving (FSD) Coming Next Year”. [13] “FSD will exceed human driving by next year.” [14] The only problem is that a reliable FSD has been only “one year away” every year since 2014. Yet, as of 2026, Tesla’s FSD has never worked to a safe level – and may never. The reality is that Tesla’s FSD remains at Level 2, far from autonomous, and clearly not ready for autonomous deployment.

A Washington Post article stated that while Elon Musk continually claims perfect FSD is “coming soon”, he clearly cannot produce it. “Musk had been promising this “coming soon next year” for 11 years, and yet he is no closer to this achievement.” [15] In substitute, Musk has repeatedly produced videos where Teslas were purported to be operating autonomously, but where the videos were later proven to be staged and fraudulent. Tesla’s FSD director admitted to the California government that Elon Musk’s estimate that the “car will be able to drive itself with reliability in excess of human” by the end of that year did “not match engineering reality”. Bloomberg reported that despite all the accidents and deaths caused by his FSD, Musk still ordered the production of criminally-dishonest videos claiming a “completely driverless” Tesla. [16]

Elon Musk is famous for making extravagant claims and false promises about the capabilities of Tesla cars. In 2016, Musk told an audience, “Within two years you’ll be able to summon your car from across the country. It will meet you wherever your phone is … and it will just automatically charge itself along the entire journey.” [17] To emphasise the banality of Musk’s claim, the owner of a private jet did a one-click “smart summoning” of his Tesla to bring the car to his airplane. The car obeyed, crashed into his airplane and continued on, not stopping at the plane at all. [18] [18a] It would seem that Musk’s FSD software could use an upgrade. The NHTSA has launched an investigation into Tesla’s Smart Summoning feature, due to crashes that occurred when users tried to remotely move their cars. Apparently, “summoned” Teslas fail to recognise either private jets or parked cars as obstructions. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

Much worse, in 2026 Musk created a carefully-scripted “Messiah” video where he tells the interviewer that “this year” (2026), “you can fall asleep in your Tesla and wake up at your destination.” [19] That is an astonishing, breathtaking lie. Not only astonishing, but stupid. The reality is that Tesla’s FSD is unreliable and unsafe – at any price.

It’s interesting that there is another side to Tesla’s FSD promotions. The marketing hype that Tesla and Elon Musk propagate to the public is very different from what is told privately to investors. Aside from the “selective honesty”, it is stunning to see the foolishness of Musk’s babble on FSD. The man speaks nonsense, and is so incoherent he leaves a strong impression that he must be on drugs. In a Q2 Earnings Call in 2022, discussing the flood of automobile accidents involving Tesla’s Self-Driving software, Musk stated, “Autopilot Crashes Are Just Like Plane Crashes … But Good. Planes still crash, but flying is safe! So … Autopilot crashes are fine.” [20] However, aviation has 0.01% of Tesla’s crash rate.

In a Q3 Earnings Call in 2023, discussing the huge accident volume involving Tesla’s FSD software, Musk stated, “Autopilot is Safer Than a Human … except when it’s not. Statistically, Autopilot is safer … but you still gotta watch it like a hawk.” [21] In a YouTube interview, Musk claimed that Tesla’s “FSD is … kinda like a human. But better. Maybe. It’s basically solved, except for, uh … edge cases.” [22] Except that the “edge cases” include situations like rain, pedestrians, stationary vehicles, bus lanes, poorly-marked lanes, construction zones, and factually comprise about 99% of driving. Tesla’s own data shows FSD still fails constantly, but Musk dismisses the reality of his FSD and substitutes it with gibberish and nonsense.

The (Imaginary) Appreciating Asset

Elon Musk Tesla LOSE HUGE court case. Source

One of Elon Musk’s biggest lies was undoubtedly the story line that Tesla vehicles were “appreciating assets”. In an ARK Invest Podcast in 2021, Elon Musk said that “AI Will Make Cars ‘Appreciate in Value’ Like Art. FSD will make Teslas worth more over time … like a vintage Ferrari!” [23] Musk’s fantasy should have meant that very soon the world will be literally flooded with millions of very expensive “vintage Ferraris”. [24] The fiction was connected to Musk’s delusion that his “self-driving” software was so unique, so special, and so valuable, that any auto containing it would have a value of $100,000 for the software alone. [25] When Elon Musk first floated the idea of FSD, he imagined he would have no competition, that his product would be one of a kind. If Musk’s Teslas were the only car with FSD, they might appreciate. But with other automakers including a superior product at no extra charge, the massive windfall Musk expected from selling his version of FSD, will never materialise.

The (Real) Depreciating Asset

Tesla resale values. Source: Creative Planning

Tesla vehicles depreciate in resale value at about three times the rate of the rest of the market [26] [27] [28] and, according to auto reports, Musk’s famed (and defamed) “Cybertruck” depreciates by 58% in the first year.

Fundamental Flaws of Tesla’s FSD

I assume readers are familiar with Tesla’s many tribulations over its “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) software. Elon Musk claims that “humans use only eyes to drive”, so camera vision is all that is necessary for autos. Musk continues to promote this as fully-autonomous and far superior to human control, while 1,000 accidents and nearly 100 deaths suggest otherwise. However, due primarily to the lack of technical ability, Elon Musk made a decision years ago to forego quality and security in the design of FSD. And that meant foregoing most of the advanced sensors available and to proceed with a camera-only version of autonomous driving software. To say this was a bad decision would be quite an understatement. This is important for our purpose here, because this stubborn flawed reasoning has been transferred from Tesla autos to the Robotaxi, the Cybercab, the Tesla semi, and the Optimus robot, almost certainly to experience the same unpleasant results.

The core of the issue is the fact that functioning in dynamic human spaces needs more than simple vision. The prevailing expert opinion is that cameras lack crucial information an auto needs to interact with the physical world. The entire industry – except for Elon Musk – has moved to multi-modal sensing. All serious auto and robotics manufacturers use a multitude of different sensory inputs, including cameras, LIDAR, and radar, to sense and interpret the physical world. But Tesla, due to Elon Musk’s ignorance and hubris, crucially abandoned both LIDAR and radar and chose to use cameras only for the FSD. LIDAR is “light detection and ranging”, a remote-sensing technology that uses laser beams to measure precise distances and movement in an environment, in real time. [29] BYD and most other auto makers have been able to very successfully integrate LIDAR, radar, and cameras for a much superior safety and performance result. Tesla could not.

Musk claims having cameras and LIDAR is unsafe because the car won’t know how to react if the two sensory inputs seem to disagree, [30] but that’s merely an excuse to justify a position he’s already taken. It is noteworthy that no other automakers using both systems have ever reported a “disagreement of sensory inputs”. Relying solely on cameras is a serious strategic risk, as it ignores other sensory dimensions critical to physical interaction and nuanced understanding. But Musk has closed this door and is committing all his AI projects to a badly-flawed sensory perception system.

The core issue is sensory perception, which we can think of as “spatial intelligence”. Covered in an excellent paper by the China Academy [31], spatial intelligence is the scaffolding upon which our cognition is built, always at work when we observe. “It drives our reasoning and planning, and it’s essential to the way we interact physically, with our environment. But AI’s spatial capabilities remain far from human level. Even the most highly-developed LLM models have fundamental limitations when representing or interacting with the physical world, and rarely perform better than chance on estimating distance, orientation, or size. Our view of the world is holistic—not just what we’re looking at, but how everything relates spatially, what it means, and why it matters. AI is disconnected from the physical reality it seeks to understand, and building a spatially intelligent AI is far beyond the reach of today’s LLMs and FSD.“

But in addition to spatial intelligence, specifically in driving a car, we humans use all our senses (except taste). In particular, human vision is binocular, which means stereoscopic. [32] This gives us depth perception, which cameras lack. With binocular vision, two eyes see the same object but from a different perspective, and the brain merges these images into a 3-D picture which permits better perception of size, depth and distance. Monocular vision (one eye) is unable to accurately measure distance or subtle differences in depth. We humans also have peripheral vision, the ability to see objects and movement outside our direct line of sight – things we are not directly looking at. It isn’t widely understood, but peripheral vision is immensely capable of informing higher-order understanding of situation and context. It can detect motion even though it cannot identify what is moving, and is especially good in low-light situations. [33] AI-generated FSD has no such abilities.

When driving, we also use sound to detect anything unusual, and also our sense of touch, to “feel” the road conditions and other things. We humans also have our intuition, which is usually defined as the ability to understand something instinctively, and without the need for conscious reasoning. These are unexplained feelings that something is true, even when we have no evidence or proof, and they play a significant role in our decision-making. Our intuition not only awakens us to a possibility but gives us a “gut feeling” about what to do next. We also often experience instantly-recovered memories of a similar situation perhaps long in the past, where that situation spelled danger or advised caution. Autonomous driving systems are incapable of these things, which is why multi-modal perception is so important. Human intuition and the memories of human experience are perhaps the best and most important sensors.

Tesla’s FSD faces several other critical technical limitations that hinder its reliability and prevent regulatory approval. One shortcoming is that Tesla’s pure vision solution has an extremely high demand for computing power, causing time lag and unreliable performance; in many situations the system is stretched beyond its limits. All Tesla pre-2024 models lack sufficient processing power, but retrofitting older cars is costly and impractical. Also, Musk refused to adopt the sub-meter high-precision positioning system, which can accurately locate a vehicle with a centimeter-level error. This is crucial for intelligent driving, and leaves Tesla with permanent limitations in positioning accuracy. [34] Also, FSD has what some call a “Black Box Problem”; the system is designed with an end-to-end neural network that functions a “black box”, making it nearly impossible for system engineers to specifically trace why FSD makes erratic and wrong decisions.

Why did Tesla abandon radar and LIDAR?

This choice was made at the outset by a company other than Tesla. When Elon Musk entered the world of FSD, he did so under the influence of bad advice and incompetent technical resources. Tesla had a critical lack of ability to develop their own system, so Elon Musk turned to a Jewish firm in Israel named Mobileye, founded in 1999 by Amnon Shashua, and who had produced a rudimentary system using only cameras for sensors. It was they who developed Tesla’s original FSD software and Autopilot system using Mobileye’s EyeQ3 chip. But Mobileye was primarily a group of ex-Mossad computer hackers who were more interested in creating and selling clandestine “remote control” systems for autos (think FBI, CIA, NSA, MI5, IDF), than about driving safety.

Mobileye were unable to produce working software using radar and LIDAR. Since Tesla had no other source at the time, and lacked both R&D and engineering resources, they had no choice but to accept the Mobileye product and jettison the higher-level sensors. However, their partnership ended abruptly in 2016 after a fatal crash involving a Tesla Model S using Autopilot. It seems that Elon Musk – as always – pushed the system far beyond its safe limits and someone died – the first of many. Mobileye publicly condemned Tesla for aggressively exceeding safe limits, leading to “a contentious breakup”. Tesla then shifted to in-house development, led by Andrej Karpathy, who built Tesla Vision—a pure camera-based system—rejecting radar and LIDAR. Tesla engineers wanted to add more robust systems to FSD, but Elon Musk personally rejected the idea. [35] The claim that Tesla’s cars are better off without both LIDAR and radar is Elon Musk burying the facts of a huge failure.

Ashok Elluswamy was the leader of Tesla’s autonomous driving team, where he immediately pushed the Tesla’s FSD software to camera-centric perception. [36] This was not merely a technical choice but a deeply held ideological philosophy, [37] and will almost surely prove to be a critical blunder. [38] However, it will be impossible for Musk to change this architecture now, because the entire FSD system framework used for Tesla cars has been fully migrated to the Robotaxi/Cybercab, and the Optimus robot. All are employing essentially identical sensory functions. If Tesla were to scrap their eyes-only auto system and adopt LIDAR, the move would cripple not only Tesla cars but both the Robotaxi/Cybercab and Optimus. It would invalidate all the prior training and programming, and require Tesla to begin from scratch. This would mean a complete cancellation of all existing Tesla FSD models, as well as putting the Robotaxi/Cybercab and Optimus on hold for at least two years, pending development of entirely new systems. If this were done, Tesla’s stock would crash to 10% of its current level. This is what we call a “Hobson’s Choice”, i.e., no choice at all. Musk himself admitted that the FSD is “really the difference between Tesla being worth a lot of money or worth basically zero.” [39]

Espionage and Population Suppression

From my research, one of the attractions touted when the Mobileye software first became public knowledge in the US was that the FBI could remotely disable all the automobiles in an area where citizens might be driving to participate in public protests. My assessment of Mobileye’s auto software was that it was primarily designed to accommodate fascist governments in population suppression. I would say there is also a high degree of certainty that it was Mobileye software that led to some very suspicious “accidents” causing the deaths of several investigative journalists and whistle-blowers in the past decade. Think of Michael Hastings. [40]

It is of special concern that both GM and Tesla (and likely many other Western automakers) are using the Jewish Mobileye programming [41] for their “self-drive” cars, because this technology is designed to permit remote control by anyone who possesses the underlying technology – meaning Western authorities and espionage agencies. Further, the Jewish News boasts that Mobileye is forming R&D and manufacturing partnerships with Intel, whose processors control virtually all computers in the world today. [42] The prospects from this are not comforting. Intel has deep US defense contracts and Pentagon AI projects, raising multiple concerns about militarised FSD deployment. This technology could potentially give Intel (as an agency of the US government) the power to shut down all computers in Russia or China in preparation for war. Mobileye was acquired by Intel in 2017 for $15 billion, [43] [44] and their self-driving unit is run by Mobileye management, in Jerusalem. Defend Democracy has an excellent article on this topic, with much information; “Your Car Is Spying on You – and Israeli Firms Are Leading”. [45] It appears that virtually every company specialising in this field is Jewish.

A related matter is Tesla’s “Smart Summon” feature, referred to earlier. This could indeed be a convenient feature, although Tesla owners aren’t informed that they aren’t the only ones who can summon their cars; anyone with access to the technology, including hackers and police and state agencies, – and Tesla itself – can do the same. Similarly, Musk announced that Tesla owners would soon be able to remotely control their car through their phones ‘like RC cars’. [46] Again, owners aren’t informed that Tesla itself, the police, and intelligence agencies, will be able to do the same. However, this was curious, because in 2023, Tesla claimed to be adding an option permitting owners to “disable” remote commands from Tesla. [47] Owners were not previously aware that Tesla secretly maintained the ability to fully control each Tesla car. To my knowledge, there is no evidence that Tesla actually proceeded with this change, and it would be impossible for an owner to verify the absence of Tesla’s remote control.

There is credible reporting and circumstantial evidence that autonomous vehicle technologies are easily weaponised or otherwise exploited for “authoritarian” purposes. The claims about remote vehicle shutdown are not paranoid; they are supported by patents and research. General Motors patented the OnStar system in 2015 (US20150057836) allowing police to remotely disable cars. And security researchers have demonstrated that Tesla’s “Kill Switch” can easily be used to remotely disable brakes and steering; this was at the Black Hat 2020 information security event. [48] The civilian “freedom” risks of this autonomous tech in state hands are undeniable. Like the Jewish Pegasus spyware (NSO Group-Israel), these systems can easily be weaponised by governments. Israel is a global leader in cyber-surveillance (e.g., NSO Group, Candiru), and Mobileye’s IDF contracts reveal military usage in autonomous suppression technology against Palestinians.

It isn’t widely advertised, but – for these same espionage reasons – Tesla is experiencing insurmountable obstacles in implementing its autonomous driving software in China. The official statement is that the restrictions on Tesla stem from “its heavy reliance on central coding of images” (i.e. military espionage), due to the clandestine forms of remote control designed into Mobileye’s original system. In my E-book “False Flags and Conspiracy Theories”, [49] you might care to read Section 9.3. Automobile Remote Control. It discusses this entire issue in some detail, and includes related references to Tesla and Mobileye.

In China, Tesla vehicles are banned from all military installations [50], all government buildings and property, many public venues, some entire airport premises, some highways, and a multitude of other locations, all due to Tesla’s “Sentry Mode” cameras. Many exhibition centers and meeting halls also refuse entry to Tesla vehicles, and this is becoming the norm. [51] The Shanghai Convention Center has completely banned Tesla vehicles from entering its premises, from parking or even simply passing by. Airports are the same. [52] The ban on Tesla has been widely implemented in government-related facilities used by citizens. Tesla vehicles are prohibited from driving on specific roads, and have been banned from central areas in some of China’s major cities. [53]

Uncontrolled and Irresponsible

Tesla owners have long complained of unpredictable and erratic behavior by the car’s FSD software, including sudden braking, missed road markings and crashes with parked emergency vehicles. Drivers reported that cars would stop short, blow through stop signs or suddenly veer off the road when lane markings were unclear. [54] Tesla is under investigation by US regulators for a host of issues including alleged steering failures and “phantom braking”. [55]

The Verge reported that a Tesla whistleblower (employee) leaked 100GB of data containing thousands of customer complaints that raised serious concerns about the safety of Tesla’s FSD. [55a] The data apparently contained reports about thousands of “self-acceleration” issues and more thousands of braking problems. There were many reports of “unintentional emergency braking” and hundreds of “phantom stops” from false collision warnings. Some of the incidents included descriptions of cars “suddenly braking or accelerating abruptly”, with many of those cars crashing into oncoming vehicles or ending up in the ditch. Many drivers were apparently unable to regain control once the FSD made a decision.

Tesla’s FSD is notorious for poor handling of what Musk terms “edge cases”. Situations involving left turns, rain, complex urban intersections, parked vehicles, school buses, emergency vehicles, regularly require human intervention. There are many cases where Tesla’s FSD ignored police hand signals, or attempted dangerous maneuvers like accelerating into crossing traffic. Tesla cars equipped with Autopilot and Full-Self Drive software have been recorded hitting parked police cars, clipping trains [55b] and veering off the road. [56] The WSJ published one of the many recorded crashes between Teslas and emergency safety vehicles. They stated, “Tesla’s heavy reliance on cameras for its autopilot technology, which differs from the rest of the industry, is putting the public at risk.” [57] [58] In reality, Elon Musk – as always – pushed a product onto the market long before it was ready, and is using the public as test victims for a beta product.

Tesla on FSD driving into a train. Source:

Tesla cars on FSD have had a bad habit for of crashing into emergency vehicles like ambulances or fire engines, even when the vehicles had flashing lights and displayed flares and other warning signs. [58a] [58b] The NHTSA has received more than a dozen reports of Teslas slamming into parked emergency vehicles while on Autopilot (at least 16 times). The AP reported in late 2021 that the US government opened a formal investigation into Tesla’s FSD after a series of collisions with parked emergency vehicles, causing multiple injuries and deaths. The investigation covered 765,000 vehicles, almost every car that Tesla sold in the US since 2014. [59] [60] Futurism considered this investigation “explosive”, from the fact that Teslas on FSD were crashing into emergency vehicles with such regularity. [61] Ominously, Carnegie-Mellon University told the Wall Street Journal that FSD will dangerously malfunction if it is not specifically “trained” on pictures and video of a particular situation. [62]

A Tesla Model S that crashed into a fire engine. Source CNN:

In one case detailed by the Intercept, a Tesla Model S on FSD suddenly braked in traffic on the San Francisco Bay Bridge, resulting in an eight-vehicle pileup that left nine people injured, including a 2-year-old. [63] In other complaints filed with NHTSA, owners say the cars slammed on the brakes when encountering semi trucks in oncoming lanes. Many crashes have involved similar settings and conditions. In another case, a motorcyclist on an Interstate highway was killed when a Tesla on Autopilot struck the bike from behind. [64] One expert said “it is very dangerous for motorcycles to be near a Tesla”, and indeed other riders have been killed by a Tesla, with the company facing increasing numbers of Autopilot-related wrongful death suits.

One Tesla owner was confused by his Model 3’s Autopilot system repeatedly slamming the brakes in a particular stretch of road. The camera system recognised a picture of a stop sign on a billboard as a real traffic sign, and simply came to a full stop in the middle of the road. In other cases, owners reported that the FSD responded to a yellow full moon as an amber traffic light. [65] In fact, it seems the FSD was confusing the moon for an endless string of traffic lights, repeatedly slowing down on an empty street with no traffic lights.

In one test case, a former NASA engineer painted a fake wall to look like a continuation of the highway, and the Tesla on FSD crashed right through it. The Futurism article noted that this situation might never be experienced on public roads, but still perfectly illustrates the shortcomings of Musk’s reliance solely on cameras. Yet Musk refuses to admit the obvious, and called LIDAR “fricking stupid, expensive and unnecessary.” [66]

Tesla Cybertruck blew through a fake wall, believing it was a road. Source: The Verge

But Elon Musk (and all of Tesla, by extension) must live in a different world than the rest of us. In a 2018 call with investors, Musk stated, “When there is a serious accident it is [always] the case that it is an experienced user, and the issue is more one of complacency. It’s not a lack of understanding of what Autopilot can do. It’s [drivers] thinking they know more about Autopilot than they do.” He further said, “If something goes wrong with Autopilot, it’s because someone is misusing it and using it directly contrary to how we’ve said it should be used.” So, when my Tesla FSD hits the brakes for a full moon, it’s my fault because I am “misusing” it. When my Tesla slams into a parked police car or fire engine, I am similarly “misusing” the FSD – or maybe thinking I know more than I do.

FSD Crashes, Injuries, Deaths

TESLA FSD mistake causes $70,000 CRASH. Source

Tesla’s promotion of FSD has been fraudulent on a grand scale, promoted as autonomous when it was never any such thing. [90] The beta software has caused so many accidents, deaths and injuries, yet Musk blithely maintains that “cars operating in Tesla’s Autopilot mode are safer than those piloted solely by human drivers”. [91] Few experts agree. Missy Cummings, director of Autonomy and Robotics at George Mason University, has repeatedly warned that people could die behind the wheel of Teslas operating FSD and Autopilot. According to Cummings, “I am besieged with requests from families of people who have been killed in Tesla crashes. It’s really tough to explain to them that … this is the way the tech was designed.” [92]

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak had some harsh words for Tesla. Wozniak stated that FSD makes Teslas incredibly unsafe to drive. He said, “If you want to learn about AI killing people, “Get a Tesla”. [93] Wozniak reported “phantom braking” issues on his own Model S, saying “It happened to us a hundred times, at least.” Musk apparently convinced Wozniak to buy a Tesla, claiming the car “would drive itself across the country, and it’s not even close to reality”. Wozniak argued that Tesla FSD could easily end up killing the occupant.

In 2025, a Washington Post investigation found that Tesla’s vaunted “autopilot” technology was linked to nearly all the US crashes involving driver assistance technologies since 2019. [94] The article stated that Tesla’s FSD and Autopilot systems have been involved in far more incidents than systems from all other manufacturers combined. [95] The WSJ uncovered hours of footage of crashes involving Teslas and, from more than 1,000 total accidents, extracted and investigated more than 200. [96] The report is still available to watch. [97] There is a wealth of data suggesting Tesla’s software isn’t just flawed but unpredictable and potentially very dangerous. US Federal regulators began only in 2021 requiring automakers to report FSD crashes, but have already logged nearly 1,000 in Teslas. [98] They released a report as early as 2024, stating that Tesla’s FSD was linked to hundreds of serious injuries and dozens of deaths. [99]

In Texas, two people were killed when a Tesla with no one in the driver’s seat crashed into a tree and burst into flames, starting a fire that 30,000 gallons of water could not extinguish. Authorities confirmed that no one was in the driver’s seat, [100] yet Elon Musk claimed that “data logs recovered” suggest that Autopilot was not engaged at the time of the crash. Does that make sense to you? How could the auto operate without FSD engaged if no one was in the driver’s seat? There was a case in Florida where a Tesla on FSD drove under the trailer of an 18-wheel truck. The judge ruled that Elon Musk knew about the flaws in his FSD but he allowed the system to continue to operate. [101] That should open the door to multiple criminal charges against Elon Musk of willful misconduct and gross negligence.

A former Tesla employee has told the BBC he believes the technology powering the firm’s self-driving vehicles is not safe enough to be used on public roads. He said attempts to highlight his concerns internally had been ignored. “I don’t think the hardware is ready and the software is ready,” he said. We are essentially conducting experiments [on people] in public roads. So even if you don’t have a Tesla, your children still walk in the footpath.” Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. [102]

The door handles on Tesla cars are a well-known and glaring safety hazard. The US government finally began an investigation after numerous reported incidents of problems with opening Tesla doors, sometime trapping drivers in burning vehicles after accidents and a loss of power. [103] The NHTSA also opened an investigation into Tesla over children getting stuck inside cars after electronic door releases fail. [104] As one reader noted, “there always has to be accidents or deaths before matters like this get addressed.” That’s a fair comment, because the door problems with Teslas have been known for years. Musk refused to address them because the Tesla door handle and latching mechanisms were his personal creation. He was so obsessed with it that this was one of the main causes of the huge fallout between Musk and Tesla’s founders. Musk was deeply resentful the others disagreed with his “creation”, and even more resentful at the costs of developing it.

There was the case of a Florida doctor who burned to death inside his crashed Tesla Model S. Police were unable to rescue him because the car’s electronic doors refused to open. Tesla of course denied this, but the Musk-designed electronic doors were a known Tesla flaw, [105] and China has banned them. [106] Firefighters often must resort to breaking a Tesla’s window to free passengers. One publicised case was when a 20-month-old child was locked inside a Tesla after one of the vehicle’s batteries died. The mother said that when the emergency responders arrived, their first words were, “Ugh. It’s a Tesla. We can’t get in these cars”. They finally had to use an ax to break open one of the EV’s windows.

In July 2023, a 73-year-old man was forced to kick out a window in his Model Y after becoming trapped. A similar emergency occurred for a mother and her daughter in Illinois with a rented Tesla, while a California driver found herself stuck in her EV while waiting on an over-the-air software update that shut down her car. In the 40 minutes it took to complete the update, outside temperatures rose to 115-degrees Fahrenheit. [107] Then there was a wrongful death lawsuit where a 20-year-old driver was unable to escape a burning Tesla due to faulty electronic doors. Gizmodo related his call to 911: “I’m stuck in a car crash… I can’t get out, please help me… I can’t breathe…. It’s on fire, it’s on fire. Help please… I am going to die… I’m dying. Help. [… I’m dying… Help… Help.” [108] The emergency responders were unable to remove the man quickly, and he burned to death. Tesla refused to respond to requests for comment. This is so serious a matter that the German Auto Club recommends all Tesla owners carry a hammer in their cars, specifically to smash the windows for escape when the doors refuse to open. [109] But Elon Musk is in love with “his” door handles and refuses to change even if people burn to death.

In another case, a college student was with her boyfriend on a Florida road when they were struck by a Tesla on FSD. According to police, the car had blown through a stop sign, a flashing light and five yellow warning signs. The girl died immediately. A federal investigation determined that the Tesla FSD was at fault. [110] In Florida, a jury found Tesla liable in the fatal crash of an Autopilot-equipped Model S and ordered Tesla to pay $243 million to the family of a deceased woman and an injured survivor. A man had reached down to pick up a cellphone he dropped, when a Tesla blew through a stop sign and hit the victim’s car. [111] One of the first FSD deaths was when a Tesla Model 3 using the ‘auto-drive feature’, “just ran straight off the road, barreled into a tree and exploded in flames”. [112] Tesla did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A Michigan woman was taken to the hospital after her Tesla self-crashed into a tree while in FSD mode. [113]

Tesla Crash. Source: Washington Post

There was the case of Walter Huang, a 38-year-old former Apple engineer, who died when his Tesla in FSD suddenly accelerated and hit a concrete highway barrier at 70 mph. Terms of the settlement include a gag order about the amount. [114] The evidence was that Elon Musk was responsible for the accident because Huang believed Musk’s statements about the reliability of Autopilot. [115] Interestingly, one day before the trial began, Tesla settled the case with the man’s family. This was a very high-profile case, and a trial would have publicly revealed the flaws in Tesla’s FSD. Tesla had been fighting the case for five years because its FSD “would have been subject to intense scrutiny at a time when Musk is aggressively pushing his driver-assistance features out to the public”. [116] The root cause of Tesla’s eagerness to settle was likely the admission in a California court by Ashok Elluswamy, the head of Tesla’s FSD, that a major video proclaiming the perfect reliability of FSD was in fact staged and fraudulent. [117] [118]

In a very disturbing development in the US, a driver was charged with manslaughter after his Tesla on FSD caused the deaths of two people. [119] Yet the driver was clearly misled and victimised by Elon Musk’s fraudulent claims about the software. It seems we always blame the victim. The fact is that Elon Musk (through Tesla) released a beta (experimental) version of self-driving software long before it was ready for commercialisation, while promoting it as safer than human operation. The promotion was assisted by dozens of fraudulent videos purporting to demonstrate autonomy when no such thing was possible. The fully predictable result was the hundreds of deaths and injuries.

Elon Musk is a bloody murderer, and should be indicted on 100 counts of manslaughter. It is Elon Musk who should be charged, not the driver who naively trusted what Musk said and what Tesla claimed. To tell the truth, if I were the judge on those charges, I would not send Elon Musk to prison. I would instead order that he be confined in an institution for the criminally insane, to be released only in a coffin. If you want proof that Elon Musk is a psychopath, he bizarrely – and infuriatingly – claims “I think [I] have a moral obligation to deploy [FSD] … Because the people whose lives [I] saved don’t know that their lives were saved.” [120]

Tesla acknowledges that the FSD software is in “beta” mode — meaning still in development and not ready for distribution, but Elon Musk claimed that its public release was an essential step toward reducing America’s 40,000 annual road deaths. [121] The truth is that its public release was an essential step toward producing imaginary billions of dollars in revenue, and Elon Musk was too impatient to wait. If some people died, they died. Unfortunate, but you can’t stop progress.

Tesla’s FSD may not be necessarily doomed, but its future depends heavily on political support from the US government – support that doesn’t exist in China or Europe. The most likely outcome is that FSD will become a niche feature in the US only, while Chinese automakers dominate autonomous driving everywhere else.

Tesla FSD Fraudulent Videos:

-Killing Children

In one released Tesla video, as in the screenshot below, Musk engages in some very dirty shots against feared competitors, one of which is Xiaomi who have surpassed Tesla in market share in China. One of the major flaws in Tesla’s FSD is that it has consistently failed in tests to recognise children on the street. In one well-publicised test that went viral, the Tesla self-driving car hit the children three times out of three. [67] The video producers claimed that full self-driving mode was engaged, while Musk called the video “fake”. Musk’s response was to produce an “Internal test video” that shows Tesla’s FSD system successfully handling a “child crossing the road” at 55 mph (88 km/h). But the video is false, an AI-generated fraud created by Tesla’s staff, and practiced repeatedly until they managed to produce one that appeared acceptable. No such “test” has any validity. Other similar “tests” were live but obviously staged.

To further defend Tesla against the indefensible, Musk’s entourage produced another AI video of three cars (a Zeekr, a Tesla, and a Xiaomi) faced with this issue. The video falsely shows the Tesla stopping with an abundance of space, and only the Xiaomi hitting and killing the child. There are many instances of Elon Musk using AI-generated images, videos, voice, to support false statements. This one of Xiaomi is particularly vicious and slanderous, and would justify a massive lawsuit. But this is typical Elon Musk, and it isn’t the only fraudulent video produced for Tesla. The truth is that Xiaomi has succeeded perfectly in these tests, repeatedly. [68] [69] [70] Xiaomi officially passed rigorous tests by the China Automotive Engineering Research for “child suddenly crossing the road” in a complex scenario with obscured sightlines. [71]

Fake video of Tesla stopping, Xiaomi hitting child. Source: Tesla video

Tesla FSD Fraudulent Videos:

-Walter Huang

Walter Huang died because of Tesla’s FSD. Source:

The occasion was a trial where Tesla was being sued by the family of a former Apple engineer named Walter Huang who was killed when his Tesla sped up and crashed into a concrete highway barrier. [72] A man named Ashok Elluswamy, the director of Tesla’s FSD division, was providing testimony under oath about a promotional FSD video Tesla had produced, and on which Huang had placed his trust. The video shows a Tesla Model X driving on urban, suburban and highway streets; stopping itself at a red light and accelerating at a green light. It was widely promoted by Elon Musk as evidence of the supremacy of Tesla’s FSD. According to Reuters who reviewed all the evidence, [73] Elluswamy testified that the entire video was faked. [74] [75] [76]

Although the video purported to show a Tesla autonomously navigating all contingencies, none of it was true. Elluswamy testified that Elon Musk demanded Tesla’s autonomous driving team design and record a “system capability demonstration” of Tesla’s FSD. Tesla’s fake video was produced using 3-D maps on a pre-selected route from a house in Menlo Park, California, to Tesla’s headquarters. But the trip was in no way autonomous and drivers were in control. When attempting to show that the Model X could park itself without a driver, the test vehicle crashed into the fence of Tesla’s parking lot. Elluswamy testified that “The intent of the video was not to accurately portray what was available for customers in 2016. It was to portray what was possible to build into the system”.

Yet, when Tesla released the video, Musk posted on Twitter: “Tesla drove itself (with no human intervention) through city streets to the highway, then to the streets again, and finally found a parking spot.” The video was still on Tesla’s website in early 2026, with the tagline: “The person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is driving itself.” Musk further boasted on Twitter and elsewhere that Tesla vehicles require “no human input at all” to drive through urban streets to highways and eventually to find a parking spot. It was all a lie. Neither Musk nor Tesla responded to a request for comment.

Desperate Secrecy

As an indication that Tesla the company shares Elon Musk’s personal lack of integrity, their data system insists that fault and accident information is “for internal use only”, and demands (in bold print) that IF any information is passed to a customer, it must be verbal only. The Verge reported that Tesla staff are pointedly instructed to “Do not copy and paste the report below into an email, text message, or leave it in a voicemail to the customer”. And lastly, it must be specifically recorded “if the involvement of a lawyer cannot be prevented”. [77] In 2018, Musk stated that Tesla would regularly release safety (accident) data involving its FSD, but noted that “negative” press coverage about FSD might persuade customers not to use it. And of course, Tesla releases little useful data obviously because the negative press coverage would kill it dead. Tesla can’t afford that because it needs the money.

The crash reports had been a constant thorn in the side of Tesla, but then some magic occurred when Musk was appointed to his DOGE duties: In early 2025, the US government suddenly weakened all the rules for reporting accidents, injuries and deaths where FSD was involved. The new rules allow companies to shield crash details from public view on the grounds that such information contains “confidential business information.” [78] The big winner in this clearly political move is Tesla, who can now keep even more damaging information secret. It should be obvious that the new regulations were not implemented for reasons of “public safety”.

FSD Subscriptions

Tesla have declared FSD software as a premium proprietary item, and will install it only for owners who agree to pay a fee of $99 a month or a one-time payment of $8,000 (or, in some cases, as much as $15,000; 64,000 RMB in China). This is not different than refusing to install seat belts or air bags without an unconscionable fee. In fact, few owners have taken this path; public acceptance of FSD under paid subscriptions has been very poor. Tesla’s own statistics revealed that fewer than 8% of owners have chosen it, and surveys tell us that very few of those actually use it. The purchase of FSD not only increases the cost of buying a Tesla, but causes significantly higher insurance premiums.

But there is a fraud buried in this Tesla failure: Musk announced in late 2025 or early 2026 that subscriptions for FSD had jumped by nearly 50%, to 12% of all owners. The numbers jumped (if indeed they did jump) because Tesla offered FSD on a trial basis to all owners – a free 30-day offer – with the ability to cancel anytime, even after only one month. [79] If I were a Tesla salesman, I am sure I could convince 80% of owners to try it for only one month, if it were free. But, if you read the fine print, anyone subscribing to FSD for even one month is listed forever after by Tesla as an “active user”. Hence, the jump to 12%.

In the middle of 2025, auto websites reported on a research firm release of FSD subscription figures, stating “the numbers are looking grim”. [80] Apparently, and fully consistent with my own research, 98% of Tesla owners who trial the FSD, cancel the subscription and refuse a purchase. The purchase rate was only 2% of Tesla owners, and this was only after the cost was lowered from $12,000 to $8,000, and the subscription fee reduced by 50% from $200 to $99 per month. To put some numbers to this, Tesla’s total subscriptions (at 2%) would approximate 35,000 users, while GM’s OnStar system reached 12 million subscribers. And Ford has more paid subscriptions than Tesla’s total auto sales since inception. [81]

The strongly negative reputation of Tesla’s FSD is not a secret, but the mass media refuse to address the issue openly. CNBC reported a poll showing that Tesla’s FSD pushed consumers away from the brand rather than drawing them to it. One research director said that Tesla has “the worst reputation of any EV maker …” [82] If that isn’t a negative reputation, I don’t know what would be, but the media are flooded only with Musk-scripted videos and praise.

Moreover, companies like BYD offer superior FSD systems as standard equipment at no extra charge, even for cars priced less than $10,000. [83] [84] BYD’s system is widely considered to be much superior to that of Tesla. [85] [86] Thus, Elon Musk’s dream of “selling” his FSD to hundreds of millions of Chinese is now merely a delusion, and the same is true for Europe. The only country where subscription sales are possible is the US because Chinese cars are effectively banned. FSD was originally imagined as a cash cow for Tesla, producing billions in free monthly revenue with no associated expenses. But Musk’s software is under criminal investigation in the US, banned in Europe, and prohibited in China, and thus virtually worthless. Hallucination meets reality.

Tesla FSD in China

While Tesla delivered 72,115 China-made EV in October, Chinese rival BYD, which makes EVs and hybrid models from its Dynasty and Ocean series, delivered 301,095 EVs roughly 400% more in the same month. Source

According to a report by the China Academy, “Tesla’s ‘crippled’ version of FSD entered China”. [87] “Tesla is essentially unable to conduct road training in China. According to Bloomberg, Tesla plans (hopes, actually) to offer an “updated” “Full Self-Driving” software to Chinese owners – at a cost of 64,000 RMB. But the software is not by any means “full self-driving” and the so-called updates have increased the price from 32,000 RMB. I doubt anyone in China would pay for a substandard product when much superior versions are available free. But, as Alexander Pope wrote, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast”. Tesla’s FSD has many structural problems that will not go away, rendering Musk’s dream futile. China does not allow Tesla to transfer Chinese data to the US for training, and this alone prevents Tesla’s FSD from functioning in China. Chinese traffic regulations and road environments differ significantly from those in the US, and Tesla has never been able to navigate these successfully.

Chinese drivers who have tried to use Tesla’s software have repeatedly incurred fines for multiple categories of traffic offenses. From an article in Electrek, “Chinese media websites are flooded with Tesla vehicles running red traffic lights, failing to recognize green lights, driving in restricted bus or bicycle lanes, and making illegal turns and other illegal maneuvers. Tesla’s FSD mistakes red Chinese lanterns as traffic lights. One Tesla driver received 7 tickets in the space of a single drive. Many Chinese live streams counted the number of traffic violations from the vehicle and the number of points that would have been taken off or licenses suspended as a result. The problem isn’t the Chinese traffic systems and laws. The problem is the Tesla system.” [88]

From Futurism, “Tesla Suddenly Suspends Full Self-Driving Trial in China” [89] The pause is undoubtedly due to its abysmal performance. “Musk has bet much of the company’s future on the fulfillment of his decade-long promise of realizing self-driving vehicles — but given the many collisions and even deaths related to the software, the company still has a lot of work to do.” It isn’t only the promise of a new product. Much of Tesla’s stock market value is due to Musk’s hyping of the hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue this product would create. And, as Futurism also noted, “Chinese regulators aren’t bending over backward”, to help Elon Musk.

Mr. Romanoff’s writing has been translated into 34 languages and his articles posted on more than 150 foreign-language news and politics websites in more than 30 countries, as well as more than 100 English language platforms. Larry Romanoff is a retired management consultant and businessman. He has held senior executive positions in international consulting firms, and owned an international import-export business. He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, presenting case studies in international affairs to senior EMBA classes. Mr. Romanoff lives in Shanghai and is currently writing a series of ten books generally related to China and the West. He is one of the contributing authors to Cynthia McKinney’s new anthology ‘When China Sneezes’. (Chap. 2 — Dealing with Demons).

His full archive can be seen at

https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/ + https://www.moonofshanghai.com/

He can be contacted at: 2186604556@qq.com

NOTES – Part 23

[1] 17 fatalities, 736 crashes: The shocking toll of Tesla’s Autopilot
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/10/tesla-autopilot-crashes-elon-musk/

[2] Tesla autopilot crashes
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/10/tesla-autopilot-crashes-elon-musk/

[3] Tesla under Elon Musk made the first best electric car. But will it make the next?
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/tesla-elon-musk-electric-vehicle-b2496076.html

[4] Tesla Suddenly Suspends Full Self-Driving Trial in China
https://futurism.com/tesla-suspends-full-self-driving-china

[5] Exclusive: In Tesla Autopilot probe, US prosecutors focus on securities, wire fraud
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-autopilot-probe-us-prosecutors-focus-securities-wire-fraud-2024-05-08/

[6] California says Musk lied about self-driving Teslas
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2025/jul/29/california-says-musk-lied-about-self-driving-tesla/

[7] Elon Musk Defends Tesla’s Misleading “Autopilot” Mode
https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-defends-tesla-misleading-autopilot-mode

[8] Elon Musk Defends Tesla’s Misleading “Autopilot” Mode
https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-defends-tesla-misleading-autopilot-mode

[9] Debunking Elon Musk – Part 8 – Elon Musk’s Corporate Character
https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/21696/

[10] Tesla logged the most recall issues in 2024
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/tesla-logged-the-most-recall-issues-in-2024-010725.html

[11] BizzyCar End of Year Recall Report
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bizzycar-end-of-year-recall-report-shows-27-million-vehicles-recalled-in-2024-tesla-leading-in-recalls-for-the-year-and-a-turn-around-story-for-ford-302341231.html

[12] Testing Tesla’s Autopilot recall, I don’t feel much safer — and neither should you
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/31/tesla-autopilot-recall-test/

[13] Musk has claimed FSD was Coming Next Year
https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/1/23579180/tesla-full-self-driving-beta-nhtsa-recall-autopilot

[14] Musk’s “next year” FSD tweet.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1638769206189309952

[15] Constantly Kicking the Can Down the Road on Fully Self-Driving Teslas
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/10/tesla-autopilot-crashes-elon-musk/

[16] Bloomberg Tesla autopilot
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-19/elon-musk-directed-tesla-autopilot-video-saying-car-drove-itself-tsla

[17] California says Musk lied about self-driving Teslas
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2025/jul/29/california-says-musk-lied-about-self-driving-tesla/

[18] Tesla vehicle crashes into $3.5 million jet after being dangerously ‘summoned’ by owner
https://electrek.co/2022/04/22/tesla-vehicle-crashes-into-jet-dangerously-summoned-by-owner/

[18a] A Tesla Model Y crashes into a $3.5 million jet after being ‘summoned’
https://interestingengineering.com/transportation/tesla-model-y-crash-jet-summoned

[19] Musk. This year you can fall asleep in your Tesla and wake up at your destination.
https://v.douyin.com/qJOc_rhfJSg/

[20] Musk’s bizarre plane analogy (15:00 mark).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3d6bQ5f0aE

[21] Musk flip-flops on safety (12:30 mark).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3d6bQ5f0aE

[22] Musk’s FSD “solved” claim (2:00:00 mark).
https://youtu.be/ODSJsviD_SU?t=7200

[23] Musk’s “appreciating car” nonsense (40:00 mark).
https://youtu.be/5Qq4j7k8X9I?t=2400

[24] Elon Musk’s biggest lie: Tesla vehicles are now appreciating assets
https://electrek.co/2025/03/18/elon-musk-biggest-lie-tesla-vehicles-appreciating-assets/

[25] Elon Musk’s biggest lie: Tesla vehicles are now appreciating assets
https://electrek.co/2025/03/18/elon-musk-biggest-lie-tesla-vehicles-appreciating-assets/

[26] Tesla vehicles are losing value at 3 times the rate of the rest of the market.
https://electrek.co/2025/03/17/tesla-used-car-prices-falling-3x-rest-market/

[27] Musk said Tesla cars would rise in value, but the opposite happened
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/03/cars/musk-tesla-cars-value-ev-prices/index.html

[28] Tesla vehicles are losing value at 3 times the rate of the rest of the market.
https://electrek.co/2025/03/17/tesla-used-car-prices-falling-3x-rest-market/

[29] What is LiDAR?
https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/lidar

[30] Tesla and technology executives debate the path of autonomous driving technology: pure vision VS multi-sensor fusion
https://news.zol.com.cn/1037/10370329.html

[31] What ChatGPT Will Never Be Capable Of
https://thechinaacademy.org/what-chatgpt-will-never-be-capable-of/

[32] Stereoscopic Vision Explained: A Complete Guide to Depth Perception
https://opthametry.com/stereoscopic-vision-explained/

[33] Peripheral Vision
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/peripheral-vision

[34] Is Tesla FSD really reliable? The lack of lidar and computing power bottlenecks raises questions
https://so.html5.qq.com/page/real/search_news?docid=70000021_00967bfaacd53352&faker=1

[35] Tesla rejected more advanced driver monitoring features on its cars
https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/14/17352814/elon-musk-tesla-autopilot-face-tracking-gm

[36] Tesla’s AI director is reported to have launched an internal mobilization: next year will be the “most difficult year of their lives”
https://baike.baidu.com/reference/62591749/533aYdO6cr3_z3kATPXdzvn5YS7NZNr66-DXV7FzzqIP0XOpSo_sUIEz6NYwsPVmHQ_e_pttbZkGyeGuB0pN6v8WduUzRbwhmX78WzvFzbvwuI9zl4MV-tEW

[37] Ashok Eluswamy
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%98%BF%E8%82%96%E5%85%8B%C2%B7%E5%9F%83%E5%8D%A2%E6%96%AF%E7%93%A6%E7%B1%B3/62591749

[38] Tesla’s AI head warns that 2026 will face the biggest challenge
https://ai.zol.com.cn/1080/10809664.html

[39] Tesla Recalls 2 Million Cars With Self-Driving Feature Over High-Risk Software Flaw
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/elon-musk-tesla-recall-self-driving-feature-1234927048/

[40] Who Killed Michael Hastings?
https://nymag.com/news/features/michael-hastings-2013-11/

[41] Israeli startups chase Mobileye as next automotive tech unicorn
https://www.autonews.com/technology/israel-grows-global-automotive-technology-powerhouse

[42] Intel, Mobileye Expands R&D Facilities And Manufacturing Capacity In Israel
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2021/05/03/intel-mobileye-expands-rd-facilities-and
manufacturing-capacity-in-israel/

[43] Intel to Acquire Mobileye
https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/243/intel-to-acquire-mobileye

[44] Intel Buys Mobileye for $15 billion The deal rounds out two years of frenetic robocar acquisitions
https://spectrum.ieee.org/intel-buys-mobileye-for-15-billion

[45] Your Car Is Spying on You – and Israeli Firms Are Leading the Surveillance Race
https://www.defenddemocracy.press/your-car-is-spying-on-you-and-israeli-firms-are-leading-the-surveillance-race/

[46] Tesla owners will be able to remotely control their car through their phones
https://electrek.co/2018/11/01/tesla-remotely-control-car-phones-like-rc-cars-elon-musk

[47] Tesla Adds New Option That Lets You Disable Remote Commands From Tesla
https://www.notateslaapp.com/software-updates/upcoming-features/id/1684/tesla-adds-new-option-that-lets-you-disable-remote-commands-from-tesla

[48] Welcome to Black Hat USA 2020
https://blackhat.com/us-20/

[49] False Flags and Conspiracy Theories
https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/FALSE-FLAGS-FOR-E-BOOK-with-INDEX.pdf

[50] Tesla cars banned from China’s military complexes …
https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-bans-tesla-cars-military-115939300.html

[51] China issues directive to ban Teslas from military compounds
https://www.eldiario24.com/en/tesla-china-military-security/5447/

[52] For safety reasons, Tesla electric vehicles are banned from entering government buildings in China
https://paultan.org/cn/2024/02/01/tesla-cars-to-be-banned-from-chinese-government-buildings-amid-security-fears-report/

[53] Tesla Faces Bans in China
https://www.kangnamtimes.com/tech/article/84179/

[54] Tesla worker killed in fiery crash may be first ‘Full Self-Driving’ fatality
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2024/tesla-full-self-driving-fatal-crash/

[55] “My autopilot almost killed me”: Tesla files cast doubt on Elon Musk’s promise
https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/my-autopilot-almost-killed-me-elon-musk-under-fire-as-tesla-leaked-docs-reveal-thousands-of-complaints-382996-2023-05-26

[55a] Tesla Files: 100 GB Of Confidential Data Leaked To German Newspaper
https://insideevs.com/news/669359/tesla-files-100-gb-confidential-data-leaked-german-newspaper/

[55b] Tesla on ‘self-driving’ gets stuck on train track and hit by train
https://electrek.co/2025/06/16/tesla-on-self-driving-stuck-train-track-hit-train/

[56] Tesla’s Autopilot Still Sucks Because Elon Only Wants To Use Cameras
https://www.jalopnik.com/autopilot-s-reliance-on-only-cameras-is-tesla-s-fundam-1851608787/

[57] WSJ Tesla Video
https://www.wsj.com/video/series/tesla-autopilot/the-hidden-autopilot-data-that-reveals-why-teslas-crash/68D26569-0251-4637-A035-A5131D8883B8?mod=prem_login_68D26569-0251-4637-A035-A5131D8883B8#video-player

[58] Tesla’s Recall Fix for Autopilot Irritates Drivers, Disappoints Safety Advocates
https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/teslas-recall-fix-for-autopilot-irritates-drivers-disappoints-safety-advocates-f9ca0eb4?mod=hp_lead_pos6

[58a] Tesla cars involved in 16 crashes with emergency vehicles, regulators say
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-cars-crashes-emergency-vehicles/

[58b] Tesla is under investigation because its cars keep hitting emergency vehicles
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/16/business/tesla-autopilot-federal-safety-probe/

[59] US probing Autopilot problems on 765,000 Tesla vehicles
https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-61557d668b646e7ef48c5543d3a1c66c

[60] US government opens probe into Tesla Autopilot crashes with emergency vehicles
https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/16/22626819/tesla-autopilot-crash-emergency-vehicle-probe-nhtsa

[61] US Gov Investigating Tesla Autopilot for Crashing Into Emergency Vehicles
https://futurism.com/the-byte/government-investigating-tesla-autopilot

[62] WSJ Tesla Video
https://www.wsj.com/video/series/tesla-autopilot/the-hidden-autopilot-data-that-reveals-why-teslas-crash/68D26569-0251-4637-A035-A5131D8883B8?mod=prem_login_68D26569-0251-4637-A035-A5131D8883B8#video-player

[63] 17 fatalities, 736 crashes: The shocking toll of Tesla’s Autopilot
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/10/tesla-autopilot-crashes-elon-musk/

[64] Tesla is facing another Autopilot-related wrongful death suit
https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/2/24212011/tesla-is-facing-another-autopilot-related-wrongful-death-suit

[65] Tesla Keeps “Slamming on the Brakes” When It Sees Stop Sign on Billboard
https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-slamming-brakes-sees-stop-sign-billboard

[66] Man Tests If Tesla Autopilot Will Crash Into Wall Painted to Look Like Road
https://futurism.com/tesla-wall-autopilot

[67] A video of Tesla’s fully autonomous driving crashing into a child dummy three times in a row went viral on the Internet.
https://zhuanzhi.ai/document/eb4b97075f5c289f7833f8848cc798f6

[68] Xiaomi Auto: Xiaomi AES emergency steering assist successfully passed the four major scenario tests of China Automotive Research Institute, showing excellent obstacle avoidance capabilities
https://www.zhibokanche.com/xiaomi-aes-emergency-steering-assist-successfully-passed-four-major-scene-tests-of-china-automotive-research-institute-demonstrating-excellent-obstacle-avoidance-capabilities/

[69] Li Xiaoshuang
https://weibo.com/1087385463/QfdEAobdW

[70] Xiaomi Auto’s AES emergency steering assist has passed the test in four complex scenarios
https://news.zol.com.cn/1085/10852354.html

[71] Xiaomi AES emergency steering assist successfully passed the four major scenario tests
https://www.zhibokanche.com/xiaomi-aes-emergency-steering-assist-successfully-passed-four-major-scene-tests-of-china-automotive-research-institute-demonstrating-excellent-obstacle-avoidance-capabilities/

[72] Tesla sued in wrongful death lawsuit that alleges Autopilot caused crash
https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/01/tesla-sued-in-wrongful-death-lawsuit-that-alleges-autopilot-caused-crash/

[73] Reuters: video was staged.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/tesla-video-promoting-self-driving-was-staged-engineer-testifies-2023-01-17/

[74] Tesla Staged 2016 Self-Driving Demo Video, Senior Engineer Testifies
https://insideevs.com/news/631798/tesla-staged-2016-self-driving-demo-video-senior-engineer-testifies/

[75] Tesla engineer says company faked “full autopilot” video: Report
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-autopilot-staged-engineer-says-company-faked-full-autopilot/

[76] Tesla faked a video promoting its self-driving tech, engineer testifies
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-01-18/Tesla-video-promoting-self-driving-was-faked-engineer-testifies-1gGNzD9QdmE/index.html

[77] Tesla leak reportedly shows thousands of Full Self-Driving safety complaints
https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/25/23737972/tesla-whistleblower-leak-fsd-complaints-self-driving

[78] In a Boon for Tesla, Feds Weaken Rules for Reporting on Self-Driving
https://www.wired.com/story/feds-weaken-self-driving-reporting-rules/

[79] Tesla FSD is only 12% of current fleet.
https://v.douyin.com/ZFW0BfI0I-U/

[80] 98% of Tesla Owners Who Trial Full Self-Driving Mode for Free Aren’t Buying It
https://www.motorbiscuit.com/tesla-fsd-buying/

[81] Software Emerging as Auto’s New Strategic Lever: TSLA, GM & F in Focus
https://swingtradebot.com/news-articles/22504060-software-emerging-autos-new-strategic-lever

[82] Tesla FSD turns off more U.S. consumers than it attracts, survey finds
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/28/tesla-fsd-turns-away-more-us-consumers-than-attracts-survey-finds.html

[83] A Chinese EV giant is now offering free driver assistance tech on cars under $10,000
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/11/cars/china-byd-smart-driving-tesla-hnk-intl/index.html

[84] Tesla: Stock Falls on BYD’s Plan to Offer Free AI Software in EV Lineup
https://www.morningstar.com/company-reports/1263849-tesla-stock-falls-on-byds-plan-to-offer-free-ai-software-in-ev-lineup

[85] BYD God’s Eye More Advanced Than Tesla Full Self Driving
https://cleantechnica.com/2025/02/12/byd-gods-eye-more-advanced-than-tesla-full-self-driving-fsd/#google_vignette

[86] China’s Electric Vehicles (EVs)
https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/politics/20227/

[87] Let Tesla FSD Enter China, Musk is More Eager Than Anyone
https://thechinaacademy.org/will-teslas-fsd-enter-china-musk-is-more-anxious-than-anyone/

[88] Tesla drivers are racking up fines using FSD in China
https://electrek.co/2025/02/27/tesla-drivers-are-racking-up-fines-using-fsd-in-china/

[89] Tesla Suddenly Suspends Full Self-Driving Trial in China
https://futurism.com/tesla-suspends-full-self-driving-china

[90] 17 fatalities, 736 crashes: The shocking toll of Tesla’s Autopilot
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/10/tesla-autopilot-crashes-elon-musk/

[91] Tesla under Elon Musk made the first best electric car. But will it make the next?
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/tesla-elon-musk-electric-vehicle-b2496076.html

[92] Tesla’s Autopilot Still Sucks Because Elon Only Wants To Use Cameras
https://www.jalopnik.com/autopilot-s-reliance-on-only-cameras-is-tesla-s-fundam-1851608787/

[93] Steve Wozniak: If You Want to Learn About AI Killing People, “Get a Tesla”
https://futurism.com/the-byte/steve-wozniak-ai-killing-people-tesla

[94] Tesla’s Autopilot Still Sucks Because Elon Only Wants To Use Cameras
https://www.jalopnik.com/autopilot-s-reliance-on-only-cameras-is-tesla-s-fundam-1851608787/

[95] Tesla FSD Accidents
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/10/tesla-autopilot-crashes-elon-musk/

[96] WSJ Tesla video
https://www.wsj.com/video/series/tesla-autopilot/the-hidden-autopilot-data-that-reveals-why-teslas-crash/68D26569-0251-4637-A035-A5131D8883B8?mod=prem_login_68D26569-0251-4637-A035-A5131D8883B8#video-player

[97] Tesla’s Recall Fix for Autopilot Irritates Drivers, Disappoints Safety Advocates
https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/teslas-recall-fix-for-autopilot-irritates-drivers-disappoints-safety-advocates-f9ca0eb4?mod=hp_lead_pos6

[98] The Number of Known Deaths Involving Tesla’s Autopilot Has Surged
https://futurism.com/deaths-crashes-tesla-autopilot-surged

[99] Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD Linked to Hundreds of Crashes, Many Fatal
https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-autopilot-fsd-linked-crashes

[100] Two people killed in fiery Tesla crash with no one driving
https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/18/22390612/two-people-killed-fiery-tesla-crash-no-driver

[101] Elon Musk knew about Tesla’s Autopilot flaws all along
https://www.car136.com/

[102] Ex-Tesla employee casts doubt on car safety
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67591311

[103] Tesla under investigation after parents say faulty door handles trapped their kids in the back
https://apnews.com/article/tesla-door-handle-nhtsa-053af5d5619f06eabac7e7009c17cc29

[104] Tesla is redesigning its door handles after people were left trapped in the cars
https://electrek.co/2025/09/18/tesla-is-redesigning-its-door-handles-after-people-were-left-trapped-in-the-cars/

[105] Tesla under Elon Musk made the first best electric car. But will it make the next?
https://www.independent.co.uk/cars/electric-vehicles/tesla-elon-musk-electric-vehicle-b2496076.html

[106] China to ban hidden car door handles made popular by Tesla in world first
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/03/china/china-hidden-car-door-handles-tesla-intl-hnk

[107] Dead Teslas keep locking owners out of (and inside) their cars
https://www.popsci.com/technology/tesla-lock-issue/
There is an unmarked release latch described in the owner’s manual—located in the battery-powered glove box.

[108] Lawsuit Details Horrifying 911 Call Before Tesla Driver Died While Trapped Inside Car
https://gizmodo.com/lawsuit-details-horrifying-911-call-before-tesla-driver-died-while-trapped-inside-car-2000718671

[109] Do you have a Tesla? You should carry a window hammer
https://motoryzacja.interia.pl/wiadomosci/news-masz-tesle-powinienes-wozic-mlotek-do-szyb,nId,7432977

[110] How Elon Musk’s crusade against government could benefit Tesla
https://halifax.citynews.ca/2025/02/11/how-elon-musks-crusade-against-government-could-benefit-tesla/

[111] Tesla ordered by Florida jury to pay $243 million in fatal Autopilot crash
https://www.chinadailyhk.com/hk/article/617202#Tesla-ordered-by-Florida-jury-to-pay-$243-million-in-fatal-Autopilot-crash-2025-08-02

[112] Tesla worker killed in fiery crash may be first ‘Full Self-Driving’ fatality
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2024/tesla-full-self-driving-fatal-crash/

[113] Tesla Driver Says Self-Driving Mode Crashed Her Car Into a Tree
https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-driver-self-driving-tree-crash

[114] Der Spiegel on Tesla
https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/tesla-elektroautohersteller-bietet-vergleichszahlung-einen-tag-vor-prozessbeginn-an-a-69b0b9c4-627d-4be9-82b0-d5fe2a5b1020

[115] Tesla settles with Apple engineer’s family who said Autopilot caused his fatal crash
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/08/tech/tesla-trial-wrongful-death-walter-huang/index.html

[116] Tesla settles suit over 2018 Autopilot crash that killed Apple engineer
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/08/tesla-autopilot-trial-settlement/

[117] Tesla Staged 2016 Self-Driving Demo Video, Senior Engineer Testifies
https://insideevs.com/news/631798/tesla-staged-2016-self-driving-demo-video-senior-engineer-testifies/

[118] Tesla engineer says company faked “full autopilot” video: Report
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-autopilot-staged-engineer-says-company-faked-full-autopilot/

[119] January 20, 2022 AI frontline
https://zhuanzhi.ai/document/846b4314dd70dd8d21187116c456a7a5

[120] 17 fatalities, 736 crashes: The shocking toll of Tesla’s Autopilot
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/10/tesla-autopilot-crashes-elon-musk/

[121] Tesla worker killed in fiery crash may be first ‘Full Self-Driving’ fatality
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2024/tesla-full-self-driving-fatal-crash/

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