Musk promotes blatant Tesla FSD misuse as crash lawyers rejoice

This isn't about home energy upgrades, but here's the gist since it involves Tesla: Elon Musk recently shared a video of a 98-year-old Tesla owner named Larry, who uses the "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) system to get around and openly says he no longer watches the road, even at intersections. Musk added a heart emoji, and the clip has now been viewed more than 9 million times.

The problem is that Tesla's own rules say FSD requires the driver to stay alert and ready to take over at any moment. The company calls it "FSD (Supervised)" precisely because it isn't self-driving in the full sense. Larry's comments, that he trusts the system 100 percent and doesn't feel the need to look at intersections, describe exactly the kind of use Tesla's disclaimers warn against. In the same video, the car actually misses a turn, underscoring that the system isn't error-free.

This matters beyond one heartwarming clip because Tesla is facing numerous lawsuits over crashes involving Autopilot and FSD, and its main legal defense is that drivers are responsible for supervising the car. A Florida jury already ordered Tesla to pay $243 million in one such case, and the company faces billions more in claims. Critics argue that Musk publicly praising a driver who admits to not watching the road undercuts that defense and could hand ammunition to plaintiffs' attorneys in future cases.