Dan O’Dowd, a self-described billionaire and founder of Green Hills Software, a privately-owned company that makes software such as automated driving systems, has spent several million dollars to fund a Super Bowl video advertisement against Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta.
The 30-second video shows a Tesla Model 3 on FSD Beta hitting a dummy child during a test, swerving into oncoming traffic, hitting a dummy baby in a stroller, and ignoring stopped school buses.
O’Dowd tweeted the video ad right before the Super Bowl. It calls for the National Highway Transport Safety Agency (NHTSA) to shut down FSD Beta.
Watch The Dawn Project’s #SuperBowl ad demonstrate critical safety defects in @Tesla Full Self-Driving. 6 months ago we reported FSD would run down a child. Tesla hasn’t even fixed that! To focus their attention, @NHTSAgov must turn off FSD until Tesla fixes all safety defects. pic.twitter.com/AxJbN5oOSr
— Dan O’Dowd (@RealDanODowd) February 11, 2023
Notice how readers on Twitter added context to O’Dowd’s tweet, some of which included:
- Dan O’Dowd owns a competing company writing self driving software
- Dan’s previous attempt to show FSD will “run down a child” was debunked.
- Another user performed a test and it worked as expected.
- Tesla’s FSD has over 55 million miles driven w/o any reported injuries.
We partially agree with O’Dowd and have pointed out that over the years, Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD aren’t perfect. Whether the billion cares about public safety or wants to unleash a smear campaign against his competitor remains the big question.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 02/12/2023 – 20:05
