Earlier this month, a Tesla owner shared a dash camera video on social media that showed his vehicle swerving to avoid a head-on collision while in full self-driving mode (FSD). 

The post on X by user CyberMikeOG has received more than 40,000 views since it was first uploaded on June 2. 

“FSD12.3.6 (Supervised) saved me this morning at 5:40 a.m. from a potential head-on collision,” the post says. “A driver pulled out onto a west bound roadway and turned right into my lane. My car quickly moved over as if nothing was wrong and continued in my lane.” 

FSD12.3.6 (Supervised) saved me this morning at 5:40am from a potential head on collision. A driver pulled out onto a west bound roadway and turned right into my lane. My car quickly moved over as if nothing was wrong and continued in my lane. I believe they were intoxicated.… pic.twitter.com/0F01BgGDLm

— ⭕️ CyberMike ⭕️ (@CyberMikeOG) June 2, 2024

CyberMikeOG, whose bio says he’s an Elon Musk enthusiast and long-term Tesla investor, posted a follow-up post that said another vehicle traveling beside him stopped to ask him how he moved out of the way so quickly. 

Other X users also praised the video. 

“The car is better than you in so many ways. Reaction time, perception, processing,” debunkthefrunk said. “Which is not to say it doesn’t occasionally still do random and dumb things.”

Tesla has received an abundance of negative attention for its driving features in the past year. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation into the remedy Tesla used to fix concerns with its “Autopilot” or “Autosteer” that resulted in more than 2 million vehicles being recalled late last year. 

Soon after the recall, Tesla said it released a firmware update that incorporates additional controls and alerts to drivers reminding them to continuously supervise the vehicle when Autosteer is engaged.  

The December recall stemmed from an NHTSA investigation that started in 2021 into the Autosteer feature which Tesla says can provide steering, braking, and acceleration support to the driver on controlled-access highways. The feature is not fully autonomous and drivers must keep their hands on the wheel, according to Tesla. 

On April 25, NHTSA announced the opening of an investigation into the recall remedy after identifying 13 fatal crashes, in which “foreseeable driver misuse of the system played an apparent role.” 

Tesla’s not the only OEM that offers automated driving features that have caught the attention of NHTSA. 

Amazon’s Zoox is also facing safety concerns over rear-end collisions, which NHTSA has launched an investigation into.

A May 10 NHTSA document states that its Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received reports of two incidents involving Zoox vehicles that braked suddenly, each causing a motorcyclist to rear-end the AVs. Minor injuries were reported, according to the ODI.

Both collisions involved a Toyota Highlander equipped with Zoox Automated Driving System (ADS).

NHTSA is also looking into 22 collisions involving Waymo AVs based on incidents reported under the SGO.

Reports include collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects such as gates, chains, and parked vehicles as well as instances in which the ADS appeared to disobey traffic safety control devices, according to ODI.

“In certain incidents, a collision occurred shortly after the ADS exhibited unexpected behavior near traffic safety control devices,” a May 13 investigatory document posted by ODI states. “…Other incidents, such as vehicles driving in opposing lanes with nearby oncoming traffic or entering construction zones, were identified based on publicly available reports.

A study published by Waymo in December found autonomous vehicles are safer than human drivers.

The company’s vehicles saw an 85% reduction or 6.8 times lower crash rate involving any injury from minor to severe and fatal crashes or 0.41 incidence per 1 million miles for the Waymo Driver versus 2.78 for the human benchmark, Waymo’s blog said.

The study also found a 57% reduction or 2.3 times lower police-reported crash rate or 2.1 incidences per 1 million miles for the Waymo Drive versus 4.85 for the human benchmark, the blog said.

“This means that over the 7.1 million miles Waymo drove, there were an estimated 17 fewer injuries and 20 fewer police-reported crashes compared to if human drivers with the benchmark crash rate would have driven the same distance in the areas we operate,” the blog said.

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