This is the shocking moment a Tesla in ‘Full Self-Driving’ (FSD) mode crashed into a deer in the middle of the road.
The driver, Paul S, did not confirm when or where the crash occurred, or what model Tesla he was driving. But dashcam footage shows the vehicle driving along a clear two-lane road at night, just before the animal suddenly came into view.
The Tesla rammed directly into the deer, without stopping or slowing down “even after hitting the deer at full speed,” Paul said.
‘A huge surprise after ten false stops every day!’ he added.
Paul did not say what happened to the animal, but photos showed the impact left dents and scratches on the hood of the car.
Elon Musk’s FSD system uses cameras mounted on the front, back, left and right of the vehicle to detect obstacles and avoid collisions.
The system is also supposed to warn drivers of approaching obstacles, which did not happen the night Paul hit the deer.
But it has been embroiled in controversy following a recently opened investigation into four reported collisions linked to FSD, including a fatal accident that occurred in 2023.
Last November, a 2021 Tesla Model Y in FSD mode struck a 71-year-old pedestrian in Rimrock, Arizona. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Tesla’s FSD software is based on cameras, which are different from obstacle detection in other vehicles, which typically have sensors with radar and sonar to pick up objects in the car’s path.
It appears the FSD cameras missed the light-colored deer, which stood out against the lighter pavement.
The cameras should have detected the threat, warned Paul of the approaching obstacle via the Forward Collision Warning function and maneuvered to avoid a collision.
The driver,
“I mean, that poor creature could have easily gone through the windshield and sent me to my ancestors. But it held up. Cracked, scratched, but it held up!’ he posted.
However, he is concerned about the damage.
In addition to a cracked bumper, “the hood has shifted almost an inch toward the windshield, which is cracked and scratched from the deer rolling over it and landing on the side, leaving parts on the mirror,” Paul said.
“I’m afraid the frame is bent under the plastic,” he added.
Nevertheless, he defended the FDS software. ‘FSD works great! This is just an edge case. We should probably just teach FSD what a deer’s butt looks like,” he said.
However, obstacle-detecting sensors are capable of detecting 3D objects and could potentially have picked up the animal standing in the road if the vehicle was equipped with them, according to the automotive news site Jalopnik.
For example, some other cars with automation features use LiDAR – which stands for Light Detection and Ranging.
These sensors use laser pulses to locate objects and measure the distance between these objects and the vehicle, analyzing the car’s surroundings in 3D.
Musk chose to use cameras instead of sensors in his self-driving Teslas for a number of reasons, mainly to reduce costs and the number of parts needed for each vehicle, according to Andrej Karpathy, Tesla’s former head of AI for his automated driving systems, in a 2022 interview.
Photos posted to
Not only did the car fail to detect the approaching threat, but it didn’t seem to notice the crash at all.
After hitting the unsuspecting deer, the Tesla continued moving forward at the same speed as if nothing had ever happened.
Hitting a deer puts enough force on a vehicle that the impact sensors should have recognized the collision and told the car to stop, slow down or return control to the driver.
Collisions involving self-driving Teslas have caused serious injuries and even fatalities.
While operating in Autopilot mode – which is different from FSD because the driver must keep his hands on the wheel and be ready to take control – a Tesla Model Y struck 17-year-old Tillman Mitchell moments after he went to school. van, according to the Washington Post.
The car did not even slow down and hit Mitchell in March 2023 at a speed of 70 km per hour. He survived, but suffered a broken neck and leg and had to be placed on a ventilator.
Since October 2024, there have been hundreds of non-fatal crashes involving Teslas operating on autopilot, with 51 reported fatalities.
And on October 18, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD software after four reported collisions, including a fatal crash that occurred in 2023.
NHTSA could recall the vehicles if it determines they pose a serious risk to public safety.
Despite this, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly stated that Tesla’s self-driving features are safer than human drivers.
Paul S said he experienced the “worst side of Tesla service” while trying to get an estimate on the damage to his vehicle to insure and schedule repairs.
Tesla did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
