Lucy Devine
Devastating dashcam footage reveals the moment that a self-driving Tesla veered off the road and crashed into a tree.
Shared on Reddit by the driver, who had to be rescued from the vehicle by firefighters, it's reported that the vehicle was in full self-drive (FSD) mode - one of Tesla's more controversial features - when it veered off course.
Sharing the video, the Reddit user, @SynNightmare, explained that they were alone in the vehicle - a Tesla 2025 Model 3 on FSD version 13.2.8 - when it suddenly swerved into a tree.
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The user explained they 'felt lucky to be alive' following the incident, which saw the car flip over in the ditch following the impact.
You can watch the terrifying moment below:
“[It was] just me [in the car], right after the truck passed the wheel started turning rapidly and the car drove into the ditch and the right passenger side swiped the tree and rolled over," the driver told UNILAD.
“I was hanging upside down from the car seat and was watching blood drip down to the glass roof.
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"I unbuckled my seatbelt sat on the middle fabric interior in complete shock until firefighters got me out of the car and put me on an stretcher and took me to the hospital.”
The footage has naturally alarmed other Tesla drivers, who were left confused over what had happened.
FSD is designed to use cameras and radar to navigate the vehicle autonomously.
Following the post, other drivers came to the conclusion that the crash could have occurred due to a shadow in the road being interpreted as an object.
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One person wrote they had experienced 'well-defined shadows, shallow water on part of the road, and new asphalt overlayments/repairs' be interpreted by their Tesla' FSD mode as 'obstacles that need to be avoided'.
However, they added: "Important to note, however, and as others have commented elsewhere, that I've not seen this put a vehicle in danger, much less an accident - I've had FSD move halfway into an opposing lane to avoid a perceived upcoming obstacle (at highway speed), but only when there was no oncoming traffic in view (this was a water-on-road incident in east TX)."
Meanwhile another said: "Damn. Two days ago (I didn’t post the video) but my model x saw asphalt road change colors and it was a small patch maybe 6’ x 8’ at most. And it darted in to oncoming traffic lane. I took over. But I have seen a lot of these videos over the last couple weeks."
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After many people requested more footage, the driver shared a series of different angles over on YouTube.
"It's crazy it just flings itself off the road so fast before you can even react to what's going on," one commented.
UNILAD has reached out to Tesla for comment.