Last week, Tesla initiated a recall on 362,758 vehicles equipped with FSD Beta. As per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the recall was initiated due to a fault that may cause FSD Beta to exceed the speed limits of inner city roads or travel through intersections in an unlawful manner.
Tesla’s FSD Beta recall, while it is dubbed as such, is not like a traditional recall from a conventional car company. Instead of affected owners taking their vehicles to their respective dealers or service centers to have their cars fixed, Teslas affected by the FSD Beta recall would only need to download a software update to address their faults.
Despite this, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) President David Harkey noted that Tesla’s FSD Beta recall is nevertheless representative of a wider issue on partially-automated systems and the way they are advertised. In a statement posted on the IIHS’ official website, Harkey noted that drivers of partially automated cars have shown a tendency to treat their vehicles like they are already fully autonomous.
“The partial automation systems on vehicles today require the driver to be fully engaged in the driving task at all times and retake control when necessary. Institute research shows that drivers who use partial automation on a regular basis often treat their vehicles as fully self-driving despite widespread warnings and numerous high-profile crash reports. However, none of the current systems is designed to replace a human driver or to make it safe for a driver to perform other activities that take their focus from the road,” the IIHS President said.
Harkey also shared some criticism towards Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Capability, which he noted had misleading names considering their current capabilities.
“Fully attentive drivers could prevent their vehicles from doing the things cited in the recall. The main problems for Tesla’s system include the misleading names of ‘Full Self Driving’ and ‘Autopilot’ and the fact that it does not have adequate safeguards to ensure drivers will pay full attention to the road. IIHS has been working on the development of a new safeguard ratings program to address how well partial automation vehicles will keep drivers engaged in the driving task and will begin rating vehicles later this year,” Harkey said.
While the IIHS President shared critical words towards Tesla, it should be noted that the IIHS has given the electric vehicle maker due credit over the years. The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, for example, were given a Top Safety Pick+ award by the agency last year, the highest rating that the IIHS can give.
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Tesla Senior Vice President for Automotive Tom Zhu, a key executive behind the company’s success in China and Giga Texas, recently highlighted the “prime directive” of Full Self-Driving (FSD).
Zhu’s comments emphasize Tesla’s uncompromising focus on safety, which has made the company’s vehicles among the safest on the road.
Echoing Musk’s vision for safe autonomous driving
Zhu’s post quoted Musk’s statement from 2021, where the CEO reportedly stated that FSD must avoid accidents even if the most ridiculous events happened in the middle of the road. Zhu stated that beyond everything, Tesla’s systems like Autopilot and FSD are designed to keep passengers safe.
“Elon said it in 2021: “For self-driving, even if the road is painted completely wrong and a UFO lands in the middle of the road, the car still cannot crash and still needs to do the right thing. The prime directive for the autopilot system is: Don’t crash. That really overrides everything. No matter what the lines say or how the road is done, the thing that needs to happen is minimizing the probability of impact while getting you to your destination conveniently and comfortably,” Zhu stated.
“The prime directive, the absolute priority, is to minimize the probability of injury to yourself or to anyone on the road, to pedestrians, or anything like that. It can’t be dependent on the road markings being correct.”
Tesla leadership rallies behind global FSD rollout
Tom Zhu, who previously led Tesla China through its record-breaking growth phase, now oversees automotive operations worldwide. He has reportedly become a problem solver for Elon Musk over the years, with previous reports stating that he was brought in to help Giga Texas optimize its vehicle production ramp.
Zhu’s comments may sound ambitious, but FSD has proven that it values safety above all else over the years. This was highlighted recently in an incident in Australia, when a Model Y was hit by what could very well be a meteor. Despite the impact and part of its windshield melting, the vehicle was able to drive safely and keep its passengers safe.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s biggest tech rival just canceled his Tesla Roadster
“I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait,” Altman said.
Elon Musk’s biggest tech rival just canceled his reservation for a Tesla Roadster, the supercar the company has been developing for nearly eight years.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, announced on X on Thursday evening that he canceled his Tesla Roadster reservation, or at least is trying to:
A tale in three acts: pic.twitter.com/ClRZBgT24g
— Sam Altman (@sama) October 30, 2025
Altman placed his Tesla Roadster reservation with a $50,000 deposit way back on July 11, 2018. However, he recently decided that he had waited long enough and decided to email the company to officially cancel the order.
“Hi, I’d like to cancel my reservation. Could you please refund me the $50k?” Altman emails to reservations@tesla.com.
He then received an immediate response, but not from Tesla. Instead, it was a bounce-back message from Google, stating that the message could not be delivered to the email because it was not active.
Altman then provided a reason for his cancellation, and it was not related to the intense rivalry he had with Elon Musk:
“I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait.”
I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait.
— Sam Altman (@sama) October 30, 2025
Altman and Musk have a lengthy history with one another that dates back to 2015, when OpenAI was created. The feud has resulted in lawsuits over breaching founding agreements by prioritizing profits.
Musk has been especially critical in recent years because of Altman’s decision to turn OpenAI into a for-profit business that he says is “built on a lie.”
This year, Musk offered over $97 billion to buy OpenAI, and a judge blocked his request to stop the company from being converted into a for-profit in March.
OpenAI then countersued Musk in April, while xAI, Musk’s company, sued OpenAI for allegedly stealing secrets through poached employees in September.
Elon Musk explains why xAI sued OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft
Regarding the Roadster, Tesla has been developing it for several years and has delayed its release for five consecutive years. The company says it will have a demo of what it has changed since it was unveiled in 2017 later this year, but no date has been set quite yet.
News
Neuralink’s first human patient reflects on 21 months with brain implant “Eve”
He credited Neuralink and Elon Musk for giving him “the opportunity to be the first,” as the experience has been life-changing.
Nolan Arbaugh, the first person to receive Neuralink’s brain implant, shared his 21-month update this week, reflecting on how far he’s come since his groundbreaking surgery.
Arbaugh, who became paralyzed after a diving accident, stated that his Neuralink implant, which he fondly calls “Eve,” continues to transform his daily life.
Arbaugh celebrates Neuralink’s progress
In his post on X, Arbaugh revealed that his hands-on involvement with Neuralink has decreased as more participants have joined the program. “The team might call me to test something once in a blue moon,” he wrote, adding that he’s happy to see others experience the technology’s full potential, from operating robotic arms to typing on keyboards with thought alone.
He credited Neuralink and Elon Musk for giving him “the opportunity to be the first,” as the experience has been life-changing. Despite a recent pressure sore that temporarily kept him bedridden, Arbaugh noted that he is still very optimistic, describing his journey as one of resilience, faith, and gratitude. He also teased “big news” coming for his two-year update in early 2026.
Studies and a growing public speaking career
These days, Arbaugh stated that he is focused on his studies in neuroscience, taking full-semester courses in chemistry, biology, and pre-calculus while earning top grades. He credited “Eve” for making school possible again, as his current academic workload would have been “impossible without Neuralink.” Arbaugh stated that he has also begun building a speaking business after delivering a paid talk at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference.
“At the beginning of September I attended the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Park City, Utah, as a paid speaker. That sentence seemed like an impossibility two years ago. But it’s just the beginning. My business is built, my legal is near complete, I’m surrounding myself with a team of amazing folks, and I plan on speaking once or twice a month in the same fashion beginning as soon as January.
“Conferences, interviews, podcasts—you name it, and I want to be there spreading the word about how amazing this technology is, the growth it’s experiencing, the possibilities of the future, and how it has so deeply affected my life,” Arbaugh stated.
Tesla top exec Tom Zhu highlights Elon Musk’s “prime directive” for FSD
Elon Musk’s biggest tech rival just canceled his Tesla Roadster
Neuralink’s first human patient reflects on 21 months with brain implant “Eve”
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