Self-Driving Tesla Suddenly Swerves Off the Road and Crashes

A video that went viral on Reddit shows a Tesla Model 3 with its so-called "Full Self-Driving" driver assistance feature turned on veering off a country road, crashing into some fencing, and flipping onto its roof.

An image shared by Wally, a Tesla owner in Alabama, shows the aftermath: deployed airbags, smashed windows, and a ripped-up metal wire fence.

It's unclear what actually caused the crash, as there's nothing in particular that stands out as far as road conditions. The vehicle drives over several shadows being cast on the road by nearby trees, and a truck can be seen driving in the opposite direction just before the driver assistance feature goes haywire.

It's yet another baffling incident involving Tesla's controversial driver assistance software, which has already drawn plenty of scrutiny from regulators after being linked to countless crashes and dozens of deaths.

It's particularly harrowing, considering the Tesla is planning to roll out a robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in less than a month's time, highlighting that the Elon Musk-led company may still be woefully unprepared and putting the public at risk.

The company's misleadingly-named Full Self-Driving feature still requires drivers to be able to take over control at any time.

However, that requirement still appears to fly over the heads of many of Tesla's customers.

"I used FSD every chance I could get I actually watched YouTube videos to tailor my FSD settings and experience," Wally told Electrek. "I was happy it could drive me to Waffle House and I could just sit back and relax while it would drive me on my morning commute to work."

"I was driving to work had Full Self-Driving on. The oncoming car passed, and the wheel started turning rapidly, driving into the ditch, and side-swiping the tree, and the car flipped over," he added. "I did not have any time to react."

Fortunately, he only incurred a cut to his chin that required seven stitches.

His Model 3 featured Tesla's latest Hardware 4 onboard computer, running the latest version of FSD.

Despite Musk's promises of kicking off a driverless ride-hailing service in a matter of weeks, we're still likely many years from Musk's promise of having hundreds of thousands of truly self-driving Teslas on the road.

In a recent podcast interview, the company's head of Autopilot and AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, admitted that its driving tech is still a "couple of years" behind the likes of Waymo.

Considering how easily cars can still crash in the absence of any apparent dangers with FSD turned on, Elluswamy may have a point.

More on self-driving: Terrifying Footage Shows Cybertruck on Self-Driving Mode Swerve Into Oncoming Traffic

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