Elon Musk has responded to a video that has emerged that looks as though it shows a Tesla using the Full Self Drive (FSD) system crash into a child-sized mannequin.
CEO of Green Hills Software, Dan O’Dowd, has been public about his feelings towards the FSD system. He started a campaign last year to try and ban the system branding it as ‘unsafe’. Since the release of the campaign, which they have called The Dawn Project, they have been testing a number of aspects in Tesla’s software.
O’Dowd released to his Twitter followers on Tuesday, the TV advert that The Dawn Project will be running soon, which calls for Congress to shut the FSD project down. The video shows a Tesla crashing into child-sized mannequins multiple times. O’Dowd claims that the Tesla’s were in the FSD mode when this happened.
https://twitter.com/RealDanODowd/status/1556973572698128385
A spokesperson for The Dawn Project has claimed that they performed this test dozens of times during the course of a month. They also said that the Tesla did not veer out of the way or reduce its speed below 25 mph in any of the attempts.
It is also worth noting that these tests were not overseen by a US regulator so they were not carried under the same testing standards.
Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, has taken to Twitter to shut down the claims of the video. Initially he picked up on The Guardian “swallowing scam video hook, line & sinker”.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1557570812617580544
One user replied to the post by O’Dowd saying “This is not a joke, this is a scam”. Musk responded saying:
“From Real Scam O’Dowd”
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1557571809544912896
Another Twitter user asked Elon:
“Elon, why is it that Tesla received so much bad press & negativity compared to other car manufacturers?! Why is everyone trying to spread false articles against Tesla?! When in reality Tesla’s are the most advanced & safest vehicles in the world (both for pedestrian & drivers)”
To which Musk responded:
“Because Tesla doesn’t advertise and other car companies do”
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1557582615103913986
After the inevitable backlash emerged from Tesla fans and Musk himself, O’Dowd went a step further to say he would be prepared to undertake the tests for the regulators and has provided a link to all of the test data.
https://twitter.com/RealDanODowd/status/1557038045785907206