Safety Test Conducted by The Dawn Project Reveals That Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Software Represents a Potentially Lethal Threat to Child Pedestrians
30-Second Ad Airing Nationwide From Today Showcases Potentially Fatal Safety Defects of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Software
Santa Barbara, CA — Safety advocacy and research organization The Dawn Project today launched a nationwide public safety ad campaign highlighting the dangers of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software.
Founded by Dan O’Dowd, a pioneering software engineer specializing in secure software, The Dawn Project’s ad shockingly displays Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology repeatedly running over a child-sized mannequin in controlled test conditions. The safety test, available publicly here, was conducted by a professional test driver on a professional driving course, and found that Tesla’s FSD software hit the stationary child-sized mannequin over and over again at an average speed of 25mph and failed to detect the presence of the child-sized mannequin in the road.
Watch The Dawn Project’s new ad “Test Track” below:
“The deeply disturbing results of our safety test of Tesla Full Self-Driving should be a rallying cry to action,” said Dan O’Dowd, founder of The Dawn Project. “Elon Musk says Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software is ‘amazing.’ It’s not. It’s a lethal threat to all Americans. Over 100,000 Tesla drivers are already using the car’s Full Self-Driving mode on public roads, putting children at great risk in communities across the country.”
“This is the worst commercial software I’ve ever seen. We need regulations that prohibit self-driving cars from driving on our roads until the manufacturer proves they will not mow down children in crosswalks,” added O’Dowd.
The safety test of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving was conducted at the Willow Springs International Raceway and test track in Rosamond, California on June 21, 2022.