Tesla FSD sparks indignation: construction zone blunder almost ends in disaster

Tesla's FSD beta V12 recently received praise for its smooth driving, which reportedly feels much more natural than previous versions, but it appears that even the "end-to-end AI" of FSD beta 12 still exhibits some severe unpredictable behaviour.

In a recent video, posted by @MissJilianne on X (formerly Twitter) and embedded below this text, the Tesla Model S Plaid enters a portion of the road where construction is taking place and one lane appears to be closed to traffic. While FSD initially navigates the situation fairly deftly, when it nears the end of the construction zone, it abruptly swerves towards the construction worker standing between the lanes, forcing the driver to take over.

While the video ends with the driver taking control of the EV just in time, the clip has raised some safety concerns among online commenters.

There are a number of comments under the post questioning the legality of FSD, while others are actively petitioning the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Agency) to step in an tighten regulations on the tech. Meanwhile, others argue that the driver attentiveness should be stricter, since the driver had her hands off the wheel while FSD was active.

According to Consumer Reports, Tesla's FSD beta has been available to Tesla drivers since 2016, and while CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly claimed that Full Self-Driving is safer than human drivers, several Tesla FSD accidents have sparked NHTSA investigations.

Likewise, Musk has on several occasions promised that Tesla's FSD would soon be able to deliver Level 4 or 5 autonomous driving "within a year," but that has yet to materialise. Currently, the consensus is that Tesla's FSD is only at Level 2 autonomy.