In June 2025, TSL opposition group "Dawn Project" and "TSL Downfall Movement" jointly released a test video showing that the TSL Model Y equipped with the latest FSD software knocked down child dummies crossing the road in eight tests in a simulated school bus stop scenario, and illegally overtook the stopped school bus. The test was set to when the school bus flashed warning lights and extended a stop sign, the child dummy crossed the road, but the vehicle did not automatically brake or alert the driver. Dan O'Dowd, founder of the Dawn Project, accused TSL of "ignoring public safety" and demanded that the software be disabled immediately.
Industry media CarsCoops pointed out that the full name of TSL FSD is "Full Self-Driving (Supervised)", which clearly requires the driver to stay focused and take over at any time. Humanly ignoring the driver's intervention link during the test may amplify system defects. This is in contrast to a similar test in 2022, when the tester admitted that the driver's hands left the steering wheel during the experiment and that braking was allowed only after a collision.
Disputes over recognition capabilities
In 2024, a car owner tested FSD with a real child, and the system successfully recognized and stopped the car; but opponents believe that the low-speed test (5 mph) is not representative. Experts pointed out that the TSL pure vision solution has a recognition rate of only 67% for low, stationary objects, especially in rainy and snowy weather, when performance drops sharply.
Frequent legal disputes
In March 2025, a court in Chengdu, China, ruled on an FSD-related traffic accident, determining that the owner was responsible for not observing responsibly, and at the same time revealing the hidden danger of the automatic braking function being turned off after the system OTA upgrade. According to data from the US NHTSA, the accident rate of TSL assisted driving is 2.3 times that of models equipped with lidar.
Autonomous driving expert Saab Farah emphasized: "The failure of basic traffic rules recognition such as school bus warning lights exposes the systemic loopholes of the pure vision solution." The EU's Artificial Intelligence Act requires automakers to prove the explainability of AI decisions, which is in contrast to the regulation in China and the United States. TSL fans questioned the motivations of the opposition group's testing, pointing out that its CEO O'Dowd once ran for senator on the platform of "disabling FSD."
