Elon Musk Embarrassment: Tesla Drivers Test Cars After Viral Video Shows EV Plowing Through Toddler Mannequin

Tesla drivers have begun performing their own tests of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) tech after a recent viral video showed a Tesla vehicle plowing through a child mannequin. The video demonstrates a failure of Tesla’s emergency braking system, while a Lexus slows to a halt several feet away from the fake child.

Business Insider reports that Tesla drivers are beginning to perform their own tests of their vehicles’ Full Self-Driving (FSD) software after a video from Tesla critic Taylor Ogan showed a side-by-side comparison of a Tesla next to a Lexus that is seemingly equipped with Luminar autonomous driving sensors. The video documents how each vehicle responds when approach a child-size mannequin — a test the Tesla fails miserably

Elon Musk, Tesla chairman, smokes a “spliff” (marijuana and tobacco cigar) on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. (Youtube Screenshot)

In the video, the Tesla vehicle plows over a child-sized mannequin, while the Lexus slows to a halt several feet from another mannequin. The video was taken in May in San Mateo, California, and now has over 12 million views on Twitter and has resulted in multiple Tesla owners testing their own car’s FSD features and how it interacts with children.

Ogan told Business Insider that the original video shows a failure of Telsa’s Automatic Emergency Braking system (AEB) and that the Full Self-Driving feature was not in use at the time of the recording. Tesla’s AEB is meant to work at speeds between 3 to 90 miles per hour, however, the company has added a disclaimer that it is “designed to reduce the severity of an impact” and not to “avoid a collision.”

Ogan did however criticize Tesla’s FSD, stating: “Of course it’s not going to stop for a child consistently on an advanced software if it’s not stopping on AEB.”

FSD currently has over 100,000 subscribers who Tesla can use to test the software in real-time and allow the system’s AI to learn from the drivers. One Twitter user posted a video that appeared to show Tesla’s FSD identifying a cardboard cut-out of a child and slowing for the stationary object in the street, as well as an object in motion.

However, a YouTuber called TechGeek tried a similar test using a balloon imitation of a child. The Tesla immediately slammed into the dummy as it moved across the road:

TechGeek commented: “Generally speaking, I am very pro-Tesla and I really don’t want to expose a situation like this, but I have to state the facts. Tesla has some work to do here.”

Currently, it appears that Tesla’s FSD faces serious reliability problems. Deadly crashes are becoming commonplace and an NHTSA investigation now includes more than 200 crashes.