A Cybertruck accident triggers new allegations against Elon Musk and Tesla and brings the safety of the full self-driving system back into focus.
• New allegations against Tesla and Elon Musk after Cybertruck accident in FSD mode
• Tesla is accused of relying on cameras instead of LiDAR
• New documentary highlights internal warnings and safety concerns about Autopilot technology
Tesla CEO Elon Musk regularly provides information on progress in the company’s full self-driving technology on X (formerly Twitter). He shares updates on new functions, planned changes and developments related to autonomous driving. At the same time, however, the US electric car manufacturer is also facing several lawsuits related to accidents in FSD mode.
Tesla sued after Cybertruck accident – decision for Musk as CEO negligent?
A Cybertruck accident in Texas led to new allegations against Tesla: As Gizmodo reports, citing the driver’s lawsuit, the vehicle is said to have failed to correctly follow a Y-shaped overpass with the autopilot activated on August 18, 2025 and drove straight towards the concrete barrier in the middle and the highway below.
Not only Tesla, but also Elon Musk personally are being held responsible: According to Gizmodo, the lawsuit states: “Elon Musk is an aggressive and irresponsible salesman who has a long history of dangerous design decisions and over-promises about the features of his products. Advertising products for capabilities they do not possess is the cause of this incident and many more.”
It also alleges that Tesla acted negligently by hiring and retaining Elon Musk as CEO, allowing him to participate in product design decisions and ignoring the concerns of Tesla engineers, Gizmodo reports.
Debate about LiDAR: Tesla relies on cameras
According to Gizmodo, the lawsuit also accuses the electric car manufacturer of not providing sufficient information about the limits of its self-driving functions and of neglecting LiDAR sensors – like those used by competitors like Waymo to record distances and movements in real time using lasers – in favor of cheaper video cameras, even though Tesla engineers recommended their use.
About a year ago, Musk commented on an old video of himself on Musk wrote: “Humans don’t shoot lasers from their eyes to drive, after all. Try Tesla’s self-driving technology today, which relies solely on cameras and AI, and you’ll understand.”
People don’t shoot lasers out of their eyes to drive.
Just try Tesla self-driving today, which just uses cameras and AI, and you will understand. https://t.co/uArUTLAhlF
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2025
Legal history
The current legal dispute is part of a series of lawsuits surrounding Tesla’s autopilot function: In 2024, the company changed the name of its driving assistance function to “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” in order to make drivers more aware of their shared responsibility. The Cybertruck manual also points out that the function requires the driver’s constant attention and in certain situations – such as narrow streets, intersections or blind curves – immediate intervention may be necessary. It is the driver’s responsibility to know the limits of the system.
According to Reuters, in February 2026, a federal judge in Florida upheld a $243 million verdict in a fatal 2019 Autopilot accident that found Tesla 33 percent responsible. In the incident, a 22-year-old woman died and her boyfriend was seriously injured after the driver of a Model S looked for his dropped cell phone while driving and drove into the victims’ SUV that was parked on the side of the road at around 100 km/h. However, the US electric car manufacturer is expected to appeal, it said.
Whistleblowers expose security problems
And the shortcomings of Tesla’s autopilot are now also being discussed on the big screen. As Deutsche Welle reports, citing the documentary “Elon Musk Unveiled – The Tesla Experiment” by director Andreas Pichler, the documentary tells the story from the perspective of whistleblowers, former employees and victims of Tesla accidents. For example, a whistleblower reports that he was harassed, threatened and ultimately fired because he pointed out the serious security problems.
The documentary also shows how Elon Musk pushed forward the development of the self-driving Tesla models – despite previous warnings from company experts about safety risks and the possible consequences for people. According to Deutsche Welle, the Tesla boss is of the opinion that autonomous driving systems are safer than human drivers in the long term and therefore the accidents that could occur during the development process are “negligible” in this sense.
Svenja Polonyi, editorial team at finanzen.net
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