Right after his self-driving Cybertruck crashed into a light post, a Florida man thanked Tesla for "the best safety in the world."
On Feb 9, Jonathan Challinger posted on social media site X that his Tesla Cybertruck operating on self-driving technology failed to merge out of an ending lane before driving straight over a curb and into a lamppost.
The car "made no attempt to slow down or turn until it had already hit the curb," Challinger said in a the post, which received nearly two million views and was later deleted. He attached a photo of the crash site, which shows the front of the Cybertruck bisected by the lamppost; debris litters the street.
"Thank you @Tesla for engineering the best passive safety in the world, he wrote. "I walked away without a scratch."
The crash report comes after Musk promised in January that Tesla will roll out fully autonomous robotaxis this summer in Austin. The tech mogul said "unsupervised Full Self-Driving" will expand to California and other regions of the US by the end of the 2025.
Tesla's self-driving feature can navigate curves, intersections, left and right turns, roundabouts, and highways, according to the Cybertruck owner's manual.
However, Tesla manuals are clear that drivers must still be "fully attentive" while its autonomous driving technology is enabled. The feature itself is referred to as Full Self-Driving (Supervised) and the Cybertruck manual says drivers must keep their hands on the steering wheel.
"Driver intervention may be required in certain situations, such as on narrow roads with oncoming cars, in construction zones, or while going through complex intersections," the Cybertruck manual says, accompanied by a red warning symbol.
In his viral social media post, Challinger blamed himself for the crash and offered to send dashboard camera footage and data to Tesla to prevent future accidents.
"Big fail on my part, obviously. Don't make the same mistake I did. Pay attention. It can happen," he wrote. "It is easy to get complacent now – don't." – San Antonio Express-News/Tribune News Service
