There's a video making the rounds that probably isn't great for Tesla Inc. (TSLA)'s autonomous driving ambitions. A safety driver in a Tesla Robotaxi was caught on camera apparently sound asleep behind the wheel while the vehicle operated on San Francisco streets. The driver's head was down until the car's attention monitoring alarm went off, at which point they snapped back to attention.
Dan O'Dowd, founder of The Dawn Project and a vocal critic of Tesla's self-driving technology, shared the video on social media platform X on Tuesday. "Watch a @Tesla 'Robotaxi' safety driver fall asleep while 'monitoring' a ride in San Francisco," O'Dowd wrote, directing his criticism at both the company and CEO Elon Musk.
The Constant Attention Problem
O'Dowd raised a pointed question about the incident: Does this driver's behavior reflect the "constant attention to the road" and "immediate preparedness" that Tesla's Full Self-Driving system supposedly requires? It's a fair question. If the whole point of having a safety driver is to monitor the system and take over when needed, someone nodding off kind of defeats the purpose.
Tesla didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident.
Bold Predictions Meet Regulatory Scrutiny
The timing is particularly interesting given Musk's recent statements about the company's autonomous vehicle plans. During Tesla's third-quarter earnings call last month, Musk announced that the company's Robotaxis currently operating in Austin with safety drivers will go fully driverless by the end of 2025. He also claimed that FSD technology could be spreading faster than any other technology in history.
Meanwhile, Tesla's FSD system is facing heightened scrutiny from federal regulators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched an investigation into the technology following reports of traffic violations and multiple accidents involving Tesla vehicles operating on Autopilot or FSD modes.
Tale of Two Experiences
Not everyone shares O'Dowd's concerns about Tesla's autonomous technology. Andrej Karpathy, Tesla's former AI lead, recently praised the FSD system after experiencing it firsthand in his HW4 Tesla Model X. "Basically a flawless drive," Karpathy said, drawing comparisons between the technology and a magnetic levitation train.
The contrast highlights the ongoing debate around Tesla's approach to autonomous driving. While some users report smooth experiences, critics point to incidents like the sleeping safety driver as evidence that the technology isn't ready for unsupervised operation.
Meanwhile, at Waymo
Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) (GOOG)'s autonomous vehicle company Waymo recently announced it's expanding its self-driving cab service to highways in multiple cities, operating without onboard safety operators. The move represents a different approach to autonomous vehicles compared to Tesla's strategy, with Waymo using more sophisticated sensor arrays and taking a more cautious path to full autonomy.
Price Action: TSLA closed down 0.72% at $398.38 in regular trading, according to market data.