Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has built Tesla into a trillion-dollar powerhouse by making big promises.
Sometimes, those promises have come to fruition (like Tesla’s budget Model 3 or the Robotaxi), but many other times, they have not.
Musk’s lofty promises have been tied to Tesla’s Robotaxi and its advanced driver assistance systems program.
Back in 2016, Musk even said that Tesla ADAS would be able to drive cross-country without human intervention by 2017.
More recently, Musk has switched his FSD push into overdrive, publicly promoting what Tesla’s equipped with the latest full self-driving technology can do.
In March, tweeted: “FSD beta build V8.1 normally drives me around with no interventions. Next version is a big step change beyond that. Tesla is solving a major part of real-world AI. This is not widely known.”
Related: Tesla Robotaxi fails miserably in Cathie Wood street test
Tesla enthusiasts and shareholders fail Elon Musk’s cross-country trip test
This week, a pair of Tesla shareholder-influencers set out to prove one of Elon Musk’s lofty proclamations true when they set out to drive cross-country with FSD taking control the whole trip.
Bearded Tesla Guy recorded a video for his nearly 100,000 YouTube subscribers, attempting to drive his brand new Tesla Model Y Juniper cross-country from San Diego, California, to Orlando, Florida, with FSD V13 navigating the entire way without human intervention.
However, BTG never completed the 35-hour, 2,431-mile trip. In fact, the car never made it out of California.
Ten seconds into the second part of his video, BTG and his passenger see what they think is roadkill on the road in front of them. Unfortunately, Tesla FSD doesn’t see the object (a piece of metal) and runs over it, going 76 miles per hour.
The impact causes the front of the vehicle to go airborne and forces the pair to pull over to the side of the road. The impact broke a sway bar bracket and damaged suspension components.
Both vehicle occupants saw the easily visible debris in the road in ample time to avoid it, but Tesla FSD did not.
Commenters react to Tesla FSD crash video
Commenter @zimbabeast seemed concerned about what the crash says about FSD’s current capabilities.
“This is bad. FSD should have at least slowed down and perhaps treat it as a speed bump. It was a decent-sized metal ramp. It airlifted a heavy Model Y. Tesla needs to see this video!”
Bearded Tesla Guy responded to his comment, saying, “I was surprised FSD didn’t do anything at all. Still was on me for letting it happen.”
Related: Tesla faces another lawsuit after $323 million Autopilot verdict
User @Weezedog took issue with what the Tesla drivers told the CHP officer who assisted the two on the side of the road. “Tells the cop, ‘There was no time to avoid it’, when you literally were talking about the object on camera for 8 seconds before hitting it. Blind faith in Elon leading the blind. This is like the who people who drive into a lake because their GPS told them to.”
Bearded Tesla Guy acknowledges that FSD V13 is a supervised ADAS system and that the car is not designed to operate without human supervision, even if Musk promised that it would be able to do just that nearly a decade ago.
Tesla shareholders sue company over Robotaxi claims
Some Tesla shareholders, like Cathie Wood, are firm believers, that FSD is the future tech that will make Tesla the most valuable company in the world by the end of the decade.
“Our target in five years is $2,600, and our confidence in that number has gone up now that Tesla is commercializing Robotaxis in August and June,” Wood said recently.
However, a group of shareholders recently sued Tesla and CEO Elon Musk because the company wasn’t completely honest about the problems with Robotaxi.
The class action suit covers defendants who purchased Tesla shares between April 19, 2023, and June 22, 2025. The defendants are seeking damages for unkept promises.
Specifically, the lawsuit alleges:
Related: Tesla takes drastic action to avoid another $243 million Autopilot settlement
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