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Opinion: Tesla is getting sued by cops because a drunk driver was behind the wheel

(Credit: Tesla)

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4 years ago

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Five Texas law enforcement officers are suing Tesla for monetary relief of over $1,000,000 after a Tesla Model X collided into the cops and their vehicles. The driver operating the Tesla Model X was inebriated at the time, based on the police report.

On February 27, 2021, a Tesla Model X, reportedly with Autopilot engaged, crashed into five police officers on the Eastex Freeway in Texas. The plaintiffs claim that Tesla’s safety features failed to detect the officers’ cars because of “manufacturing defects.” 

The TX police officers are also suing Pappas Restaurant INC., which owns the Pappasito’s Cantina, where the Tesla Model X driver was served alcohol before the accident. The police report from the crash stated that the driver was arrested “on suspicion of intoxication assault.” 

Tesla Autopilot vs. FSD Confusion Continues

Any Tesla owner or supporter who reads the lawsuit will quickly identify the lawsuit’s inaccuracies about Autopilot. The most obvious flaw in the lawsuit would be how it confuses Tesla Autopilot with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite. 

The lawsuit lists supposed Autopilot features to support the plaintiff’s claim that Tesla inaccurately marketed its driver assistance system as safe. The lawsuit claims it compiled the list of Autopilot features from Tesla’s website. The list includes the “Navigate on Autopilot” feature, which is currently listed under the Full Self-Driving suite.

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The lawsuit also includes tweets from Elon Musk. In one instance, the lawsuit states: “Tesla, Inc. and its CEO, Elon Musk, have also repeatedly exaggerated the actual capabilities of Autopilot, resulting in the public, including first responders, and Tesla drivers being put at a significant risk of serious injury or death:” 

Then the lawsuit includes the following screenshot of an Elon Musk tweet, which clearly references FSD.

This recent lawsuit by five Texas cops reveals the ongoing confusion about Tesla’s safety features, particularly between Autopilot and Full Self-Driving. It also shows the continuous fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) Tesla critics sow about its safety systems. 

The Irony of Tesla Autopilot Criticism

Ironically, Tesla created Autopilot and its Full Self-Driving suite to prevent people from misusing their vehicles, such as in this case, where the driver operated a Tesla Model X irresponsibly. Critics against Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving constantly blame the company for drivers misusing their vehicles, as shown by this recent lawsuit against the company. 

During the last earnings call, Elon Musk explained, once again, why software like Autopilot and Tesla FSD are necessary for modern vehicles. 

Elon Musk reiterates Tesla’s lofty goals for Full Self-Driving’s safety

“At scale, it will have billions of miles of travel to be able to show that it is the safety of the car with autopilot on is 100% or 200% or more safer than the average human driver,” Musk said. “At that point, I think it would be unconscionable to not to allow autopilot because the car just becomes way less safe. It would be sort of like shake the elevator analogy. Back in the day, we used to have elevator operators with a big switch. They operate the elevator and move between floors.”

“But they get tired or maybe drunk or something or distracted and every now and again, somebody would be kind of sheared in half between floors. That’s kind of the situation we have with cars. Autonomy will become so safe that it will be unsafe to manually operate the car relatively speaking. And today obviously we just get an elevator where we press the button for which floor we want, and it just takes us there safely,” he explained.

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A copy of the lawsuit can be seen below.

Lawsuit Filed Against Tesla and Pappas Restaurants by Maria Merano on Scribd

The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, reach out to me at maria@teslarati.com or via Twitter @Writer_01001101.

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Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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Tesla (TSLA) Q3 2025 earnings results

Tesla’s Q3 earnings come on the heels of a quarter where the company produced over 447,000 vehicles, delivered over 497,000 vehicles, and deployed 12.5 GWh of energy storage products.

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50 minutes ago

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October 22, 2025

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Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has released its Q3 2025 earnings results in an update letter. The document was posted on the electric vehicle maker’s official Investor Relations website after markets closed today, October 22, 2025. 

Tesla’s Q3 earnings come on the heels of a quarter where the company produced over 447,000 vehicles, delivered over 497,000 vehicles, and deployed 12.5 GWh of energy storage products. 

Tesla’s Q3 2025 results

As could be seen in Tesla’s Q3 2025 Update Letter, the company posted GAAP EPS of $0.39 and non-GAAP EPS of $0.50 per share. Tesla also posted total revenues of $28.095 billion. GAAP net income is also listed at $1.37 billion.

In comparison, FactSet consensus expects Tesla to post earnings per share of around $0.56, down 22% from Q3 2024’s $0.72 per share. Tesla’s revenue is forecasted to rise 5.4% to $26.54 billion, as noted in an Investor.com report.

On the other hand, Sharp consensus, which tracks analyst revision trends, predicts Tesla to post earnings of $0.57 per share and revenue totaling $28.31 billion.

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Other key results

Tesla highlighted the following Q3 results in its Update Letter.

As per Tesla, it is stil profitable with $1.6 billion GAAP operating income, $1.4 billion GAAP net income, and $1.8 billion non-GAAP net income. By the end of the third quarter, Tesla had an operating cash flow of $6.2 billion and record free cash flow of nearly $4.0 billion.

Tesla’s total revenue increased 12% YoY to $28.1 billion, while operating income decreased 40% YoY to $1.6 billion. This means that for Q3 2025, Tesla’s had a 5.8% operating margin. Tesla’s quarter-end cash, cash equivalents and investments was $41.6 by the end of the third quarter.

Tesla’s Q3 2025 Update Letter

TSLA-Q3-2025-Update by Simon Alvarez

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Tesla’s new Safety Report shows Autopilot is nine times safer than humans

Tesla released its Vehicle Safety Report for Q3 2025, and it showed that one crash was recorded every 6.36 million miles drive in which drivers were using Autopilot technology.

Published

3 hours ago

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October 22, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s new Safety Report for Q3 shows Autopilot technology contributed to accident frequency that was nine times lower than the national average.

Tesla released its Vehicle Safety Report for Q3 2025, and it showed that one crash was recorded every 6.36 million miles drive in which drivers were using Autopilot technology.

This is a stark contrast from the most recent data made available by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), which shows there is an automobile crash approximately every 702,000 miles.

The figure for Q3 2025 is slightly lower than the one that Tesla released in Q3 2024, which eclipsed 7 million miles between accidents for drivers using Autopilot technology.

Over the past seven quarters, Q1 has been Tesla’s strongest showing with the Vehicle Safety Report, with Q4 being the weakest. This is usually attributed to weather and driving conditions deteriorating toward the end of the year.

Q1 2024 was Tesla’s best performance so far, with one crash every 7.63 million miles.

Tesla releases Vehicle Safety Report for Q1 2024

Autopilot and Full Self-Driving have been a major focus of Tesla over the past few years, and recent versions have improved on what has already proven to be an extremely safe way to travel, as long as it is used correctly.

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite is a suitable way to allow the vehicle to navigate through any traffic setting and has been widely effective for day-to-day travel. With the data Tesla gets from its use across its vehicle fleet, it gets more refined and more accurate with every passing mile.

The company has teased the potential for completely unsupervised Full Self-Driving releases in the future, but Tesla has to solve autonomy before it can offer anything like that to the public.

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Tesla looks to enter a new continent, new job posting shows

Tesla is present on five of the seven continents: North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. In South America, Tesla currently operates only in one country, Chile, but is looking to expand to more areas.

Published

4 hours ago

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October 22, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is looking to enter Africa for the first time, launching operations on a new continent and expanding its vehicle business operations.

Tesla is present on five of the seven continents: North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. In South America, Tesla currently operates only in one country, Chile, but is looking to expand to more areas.

First Tesla Model Y Performance Spotted In Africa

Although the company has not launched anything in Africa, a new job posting indicates that Tesla is looking to launch there for the first time.

According to a new posting on Tesla’s Careers website, it is looking for a full-time Country Sales & Delivery Leader in Casablanca, Morocco:

“The Country Sales & Delivery Leader is responsible for driving the sales and delivery strategy and daily operations across the country. They will hire and develop the best people leaders and ensure the development of the highest performing teams. The Field Sales & Delivery Leader will take accountability for achieving ambitious sales and delivery targets and ensure the business performs on key success criteria, including but not excluded to market growth, customer satisfaction, operational excellence, and employee deployment and retention. In addition to driving business performance across sales & delivery, the Field Sales & Delivery is expected to act as an ambassador for Tesla in the market, as well as provide critical perspective and guidance on decisions impacting outcomes within their market to increase Tesla’s market share.”

Back in July, Tesla officially registered its presence in the Moroccan market with the $2.75 million initial capital investment, according to The Habari Network.

The move marked a formal attempt at market entry for the EV maker, and it could signal even more opportunities through its other business operations, like energy.

Morocco is looked at as one of the countries in Africa that is most prone to transition toward EVs, as its government has focused on renewable energy and strategic investments in transportation.

It also has local production advantages, as Renault operates a plant in Morocco.

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