After posting a YouTube video of a self-driving Tesla Model 3 veering off the road, a Tesla employee was dismissed
‘They have no idea how hard FSD [full self-driving] is’, says Elon Musk
Thursday, March 17, 2022 | Chimniii Desk
A Tesla Autopilot tester claims he was fired shortly after sharing a video of a Model 3 veering off the road and colliding with bollards while in "full self-driving" (FSD) mode.
Former employee John Bernal claimed that after he was sacked, the firm took away his access to the FSD Beta system, just days after he posted the video to his YouTube channel, AI Addict.
The video, titled "Tesla Full Self Traveling Crash," shows Mr Bernal and a companion driving around San Francisco in a Tesla. The vehicle veers off the road into bollards separating the shoulder as it seeks to make a right hand turn onto West San Fernando Street.
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The video, which has nearly 200,000 views, was posted on Friday, February 4th, and he was fired the following week.
In a 15 February follow-up video, he disclosed that YouTube was mentioned as the basis for his firing from the company, where he had worked since 2020, despite using his own Model 3 on his own time, with software he paid for, and without any "improper use strikes."
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent. Meanwhile, Mr Bernal told CNBC that while his written separation letter did not state why he was fired, he was told verbally that his YouTube channel was a "conflict of interest" and that he had "broken Tesla policy."
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Mr Bernal informed the site that "a manager from my Autopilot team sought to prevent me from uploading any negative or critical footage in the future that involved FSD Beta," referring to a prior video titled "Close Calls, Pedestrians, Bicycles!" from March 2021.
"They held a video conference with me, but nothing was ever written down."
Mr Bernal sent a tweet to Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday, requesting that he "please have FSD Beta back," the experimental self-driving system's early-access programme.
Mr Musk also reacted to a second query concerning the self-driving technology being employed by other auto makers on Twitter.
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