Tesla FSD Beta testers are debunking the claims that FSD doesn’t stop for “children.” Tesla FSD Beta critic, The Dawn Project, recently aired EV ads showing clips of a test that it paid for. These tests, according to The Dawn Project, show that Tesla’s FSD Beta “Tesla’s FSD software “repeatedly hits child-sized mannequins.”
Dan O’Dowd, the founder of The Dawn Project, said that Tesla’s FSD is “a lethal threat to all Americans.” Earlier this year, O’Dowd placed a full-page ad in the New York Times campaigning to ban Tesla’s FSD. He also ran for the state senate in California. His entire campaign was centered around banning Tesla’s FSD.
Debunking the claims that Tesla’s FSD Beta hits “children”
Many Tesla owners and FSD Beta testers not only disagree, but some have decided to perform their own tests. On Twitter, @WholeMarsBlog shared a thread of the many instances Tesla’s FSD Beta reacted to pedestrians and children. He pointed out that spreading misinformation is similar to running ads telling people not to wear seat belts.
Another Tesla FSD Beta tester, @TeslaDriver2022 performed their own test. I reached out to them and we spoke on the phone. @TeslaDriver2022 told me that they’ve been beta testing the software for over a year now and have seen a ton of improvements over the past year.
https://twitter.com/tesladriver2022/status/1557152108071342085
“Prior to the Beta program and even owning Teslas, I’ve owned Volvos for years with their Pilot Assist program which is kind of like basic Autopilot. And I was not seeing that progress. I have a family and I want my children in the safest vehicles which is why we had gotten Volvos.”
@TeslaDriver2022 told me that they would see Tesla’s video and eventually they made the switch to Tesla. Their partner drives a Model Y and they drive a Model 3.
“I became very interested in the potential of Tesla’s technology and when it came time for us to get new cars we both bought Teslas because we thought they were the safest vehicles for our family to be in.”
After driving with Volvo’s Pilot Assist for years, @TeslaDriver2022 said that Tesla’s FSD Beta continues to improve.
“The FSD Beta has just been getting better exponentially even since I’ve been using it. Just some of the predictions it’s got and the capabilities to understand when things are getting in their path. Not even that. Some of the most impressive stuff is just when I’m driving down the road at 45 miles an hour and there’s a car that will turn in front of me to get into a parking lot.
“Its ability to understand whether or not that car is gonna make it or not and whether or not it needs to slow down. It’s becoming very human-like.”
@TeslaDriver2022’s Tesla FSD Beta test with “children”
I asked @TeslaDriver2022 what was it about O’Dowd’s ad that inspired them to perform their own Tesla FSD Beta testing with a “child.” @TeslaDriver2022 told me that they thought the ad “simply just was not true.”
“That commercial is 100%, not the experience I’ve ever had driving my Tesla.”
“I saw his ad on the news after work yesterday and I thought, ‘what is this?!‘ And to be honest with you, I didn’t really know too much about him until that came out. Later on, I was just sitting on the couch really bothered by the ad.
“I drive with FSD Beta with my kids in the car all the time. I see how safe it is. It’s safer than anything else that’s out there. I was talking to my partner and joking and said that ‘I’m about to go into the garage and get one of our Amazon boxes, cut out a cardboard ‘child’ and put one of our kids’ jackets on it and run a test.’”
@TeslaDriver2022’s partner thought this was brilliant and they immediately ran the tests. They ran multiple tests and after tweeting it, received feedback from various Twitter users wanting them to perform other variations of the tests.
“When I originally tested it, I did around eight different tests and in every single one of them, the vehicle would path predict around the cardboard ‘child.’ It wasn’t even ever a close call. It went around the child-sized object every single time.”
After doing the tests that Twitter users suggested, @TeslaDriver2022 recorded what they said was the most impressive of the results.
“I had my neighbor come over and I did a couple of other videos. One was more to the right, one with the ‘child’ crossing the street, and one where my neighbor just launched it out and I think the launched-out ones were a little bit more impressive because that shows a lot of the AI that Tesla has.”
In the last set of tests, the launching out of the cardboard ‘child’ simulates an all too common scenario where a child runs out in front of an oncoming car. The fact that Tesla’s AI was able to tell what was happening and avoided hitting the object is telling.
“I don’t necessarily believe a lot of other vehicles have that. And the fact that Tesla is constantly updating it and making it better is what’s really impressive about it.”
Tesla FSD sees 👁 children — don’t believe the fake rigged Tesla games the competition pays to put in Newspapers & TV media.
Remember TeslaQ, the haters, they have a lot of money betting against Tesla. It’s all dirty tricks. https://t.co/Zhjn66dKi1
— K10✨ (@Kristennetten) August 10, 2022
Disclaimer: Johnna is long Tesla.
I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or see a typo, you can email me at johnna@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @JohnnaCrider1
Tesla Cybercab stands to gain from new rules that the Trump Administration is aiming to enforce on autonomous vehicles. On Thursday, NHTSA, under the Trump Administration’s U.S. Department of Transportation, commenced rulemaking on the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).
This effort aims to eliminate the mandate for manual brake pedals in vehicles that are designed to be driven exclusively by automated driving systems. This would impact the Tesla Cybercab, which the company has stated would operate without a steering wheel or pedals.
Tesla Cybercab launch is imminent after latest sighting at Giga Texas
The Trump Administration is looking to revise FMVSS No. 135, which requires standard braking systems on light-duty vehicles.
Currently, the regulation requires light-duty cars to use traditional manual braking systems that allow operators to slow the vehicle. With the advent of self-driving in the U.S., these regulations need updating, and these are the changes that could come to FMVSS No. 135:
- Removes requirements for hand- or foot-operated brake controls for vehicles designed never to be operated by a human. Existing rules still apply to AVs that retain manual controls.
- All subject vehicles must still meet the same stopping distance performance criteria via alternative testing procedures.
- While this update ensures AVs can physically stop when commanded, NHTSA is separately developing safety performance requirements for AVs in real-world driving scenarios.
- NHTSA will continue to use its broad defect enforcement authority to investigate unsafe ADS behavior and oversee recalls.
As autonomy becomes a greater part of passenger travel, these types of rule adjustments will be more than reasonable. It will give manufacturers the ability to self-certify their vehicles and avoid any red tape that could ultimately delay the deployment of these vehicles.
Administrators are also incredibly excited about the opportunity to play a role in the advancement of self-driving vehicles.
“We are at the cusp of the greatest technological revolution in vehicle technology since the innovation of the Model T,” NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said. “If we want America to lead the way, we have to reimagine our regulatory framework. That’s why under Secretary Sean Duffy’s AV Framework, NHTSA is tearing down pointless barriers to innovative designs while strengthening the fundamental safety requirements that matter and holding AV developers accountable for safe performance.”
The Cybercab entered mass production at Gigafactory Texas in April. Tesla ultimately plans to push the vehicle into its Robotaxi fleet, potentially when frameworks like these are established.
Tesla plans to boost production at its Gigafactory Berlin plant in Germany following a sharp rebound in sales and demand in Europe after a softer 2025.
The plans put Tesla in a better position to compete with strengthening companies in Europe and potentially other markets; demand indicators show Tesla is much better off than in 2025.
Last year was a tough year for Tesla in terms of overall demand in Europe. The company produced over 200,000 vehicles at the German plant last year, a soft figure compared to the 375,000 vehicles Tesla lists as its current capacity at the factory.
🚨 Tesla said this morning it will ramp up production at Gigafactory Berlin to a volume of 7,500 vehicles per week.
This is a 20 percent boost in production. Tesla will hire 1,000 new employees to help with the increase.$TSLA pic.twitter.com/kravKfRO5n
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 25, 2026
Tesla’s overall European sales dropped significantly last year due to a variety of factors. However, sales are rebounding, and demand is strong once again, and only getting stronger. Tesla is now planning to bump production of Model Y vehicles at Giga Berlin upward by about 20 percent. It will also bring 1,000 new jobs to the plant.
Tesla confirmed the details of its planned production expansion in Germany this morning. It is a strategy to keep up with strengthening demand.
In Q1, Tesla saw a record 61,000 vehicles produced at Giga Berlin. European registrations rebounded sharply, with Model Y seeing 117 percent increases in March 2026 compared to last year. Germany alone saw stark increases, with a quadrupling in registrations to 9,252 units.
This trend continued in other key European markets, including France, Denmark and Sweden. Tesla registrations were up over 46 percent in some of these markets, and Model Y continued its trend as a top BEV in the market.
Demand has been recovering strongly in 2026, giving Tesla a reason to expand production efforts at the factory. These increases signal management’s confidence in sustained or growing European pull for Berlin-built vehicles.
Tesla is being sued by the family of the woman who was killed in a Texas crash involving a Model 3. The driver, who is also being sued, claimed the vehicle was operating on Autopilot mode, but Tesla executives have come out challenging that claim, stating that the driver of the vehicle overrode the system.
The lawsuit was filed by 76-year-old Martha Avila’s daughter and her husband, who allege a “design defect” involving a Tesla and a failure to warn. The suit alleges negligence against Tesla and the driver, Michael Butler.
Butler “stated he was operating with an automated driving assistance system engaged at the time of the crash,” the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. He showed no signs of intoxication and was cooperative, the Sheriff’s Office said, according to NBC News.
Just after reports of the crash and numerous headlines that immediately blamed Tesla’s Autopilot suite, both Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Head of AI Ashok Elluswamy challenged that. Musk said the crash made “no sense” given that Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving do not travel at the speeds the door cameras captured the car traveling at, which Tesla says was 73 MPH.
Tesla finally clarifies fatal Texas crash, confirms driver manually overrode acceleration
Elluswamy also revealed that Tesla data showed Butler overrode the system by pressing the accelerator to 100%, and that the pedal was compressed fully even after the car had crashed. Tesla has not released this data to the public, likely because it is communicating with agencies like the NHTSA on an investigation.
The suit uses a Washington Post analysis of government data that “identified at least 17 fatal incidents linked to Tesla Autopilot.”
This is far from the first time an accident has been blamed on Autopilot. A fatal crash in Texas was blamed on Autopilot several years ago, but when Tesla released data to the NTSB, which was investigating the crash, Autopilot was not available where the crash occurred, and Autosteer was never enabled, meaning the car was manually controlled at the time of the accident.
“Application of the accelerator pedal was found to be as high as 98.8 percent,” the NTSB said in their findings. The highest recorded speed in the five seconds leading up to the impact was 67 miles per hour. The area where the crash occurred is residential, and Texas State laws… pic.twitter.com/XGD97NHVZ2
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 18, 2026
More information on the accident will be released as Tesla works with agencies to find the cause of the crash. From personal experience, it is hard to imagine Tesla Autopilot or FSD operating in this manner. It drives sometimes too cautiously in residential areas in parking lots, at least in my experience. Speeding happens, but at this rate in this type of area, it is hard to believe.
We look forward to more details being released with time.
Tesla Cybercab stands to gain from new Trump autonomy rules
Tesla plans production boost at Giga Berlin following rebound in Europe
