- Tesla fan confirms safety advocacy group’s test results showing that Tesla Full Self-Driving will run down a child crossing the road.
- Tesla sought to suppress the group’s test findings by threatening litigation, The Dawn Project stands behind its testing and the results.
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Nov. 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Dawn Project has been conducting safety tests of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software for two and a half years. The results of the safety tests have been shocking and deeply concerning. One of the most egregious safety defects The Dawn Project revealed was that FSD would run down a child crossing the road.
Video: Tesla Full Self-Driving will Run Down a Child Crossing the Road
After The Dawn Project publicized the shocking footage, Tesla issued a cease and desist letter in an effort to suppress the safety advocacy group’s findings. Tesla claimed the safety tests had been faked and for the past two years Tesla, Musk and his army of online supporters have attacked The Dawn Project, claiming that the tests were faked or manipulated.
The Dawn Project has recreated this test with subsequent updates of Full Self-Driving since August 2022. The results remain unchanged – Tesla Full Self-Driving will still run down a child crossing the road.
Video: The Dawn Project’s tests show that Tesla Full Self-Driving will still run down a child crossing the road
The Dawn Project extended an invitation to Tesla, Musk and a number of prominent Tesla fans to conduct collaborative safety testing of Tesla Full Self-Driving. Nearly all of them declined because they knew the tests and results were real. When Tesla investor and former Board candidate Ross Gerber accepted Dan O’Dowd’s invitation, Tesla Full Self-Driving blew past a stop sign at 35mph, nearly T-boning another driver. Gerber has since changed his tune on FSD, saying in an interview recently that FSD ‘just doesn’t work’.
Some Tesla supporters have undertaken their own tests, with mixed results. But these tests were materially different from The Dawn Project’s tests and did not constitute a thorough, objective examination of Tesla Full Self-Driving’s critical safety defects.
Now the YouTuber known as Dirty Tesla, who is an avid supporter of Tesla and FSD, has recreated a test similar to The Dawn Project’s, to ascertain whether Full Self-Driving on his Tesla Cybertruck would run down a child in the road. His testing found that FSD would run down a child in the road, validating The Dawn Project’s findings. These results demonstrate that The Dawn Project’s testing has always been accurate and truthful.
Watch: Dirty Tesla’s tests show that Tesla Full Self-Driving will run down a child standing in the road
The Dawn Project’s test results have also been corroborated by third parties including former Tesla self-driving operator John Bernal.
Dan O’Dowd, Founder of The Dawn Project, commented: “People used the false argument that we faked this test to claim that The Dawn Project was lying about everything. We weren’t. All of our tests are real. No one has ever manipulated our test car in any way. Tesla Full Self-Driving really is as defective and dangerous as The Dawn Project’s tests show.”
“Our tests are all valid, we have repeated them many many times, often with third parties to witness them.”
“Under reasonable circumstances and conditions, Tesla Full Self-Driving will run down a child in the road.”
“Self-driving software that runs down children must be immediately banned from public roads until this critical safety defect has been fixed.”
