Tesla on the wrong tracks with Fail Self Driving, Senators worry
- Reference: 1759251242
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/09/30/senators_inquiry_tesla_fsd_rail_crossings/
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The electric auto firm has had a checkered history with its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software, which is designed to assist with driving tasks on journeys (with an attentive driver behind the wheel today, though Tesla markets it as a step toward eventual full autonomy), but has experienced a number of mishaps.
Now, Senators Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have [1]penned a letter [PDF] to the [2]National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), asking it for a formal investigation into Tesla's system because of reported failures to safely detect and respond to railroad crossings.
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"Despite past investigations by the NHTSA into Tesla's system, FSD reportedly continues to pose an ongoing threat to safety on our public roads. Because collisions between trains and cars often cause significant fatalities and injuries, FSD's failure to safely navigate railroad crossings creates serious risk of a catastrophic crash," the pair explains.
The issue is that a number of Tesla drivers have reported incidents in which their vehicle using FSD failed to recognize warning signs or even active crossing gates, requiring immediate human intervention to avoid a potentially fatal collision.
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But you don't have to take their word for it. [5]The Dawn Project , which has made a mission of exposing Tesla's faults, posted a [6]video filmed in Ventura County, California, of one of the vehicles with FSD engaged failing to stop at a crossing. It ignores the red flashing lights and alarm bells and tries to drive straight across the tracks - with a train approaching – requiring the driver to hit the brakes.
[7]
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The Dawn Project is an advocacy campaign founded by software entrepreneur Dan O'Dowd, who commented: "Yet more evidence that Tesla's 'Full Self-Driving' software will try to kill you."
This follows an [9]earlier investigation by NHTSA last year, after a series of accidents in low-visibility conditions, and incidents such as a [10]fatal collision with a motorcyclist in Washington State where a Tesla was operating in Autopilot mode.
[11]
Incidents such as these demonstrate both the limitations of Tesla's technology and confusion around the branding of FSD, the senators write in their letter.
"Although Tesla warns FSD users to always supervise their vehicles when FSD is engaged, consumers would understandably expect a system named Full Self-Driving to recognize something as rudimentary as the flashing signals indicating an oncoming train at a rail crossing, without the driver having to intervene to avoid disaster," they state, making the Full Self-Driving label both misleading and dangerous.
[12]Tesla bets on bot smoke screen as political and market realities bite
[13]Florida jury throws huge fine at Tesla in Autopilot crash
[14]Struggling to sell EVs, Tesla pivots to slinging burgers
[15]Musk's antics and distractions are backfiring as Tesla's car business stalls
Tesla has since renamed the feature [16]Full Self-Driving (Supervised) , they note.
The pair wants NHTSA to force Tesla to adopt a name for its automated driving system that does not mislead drivers about its capabilities, in addition to conducting a formal investigation into FSD's operations around rail crossings.
"As part of this investigation, the agency should consider clear and obvious actions to protect the public, including restricting Tesla's FSD to the road and weather conditions it was designed to operate in," the letter insists.
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NHTSA's response to the reports concerning railroad crossings has so far been unsatisfactory, the senators state, with the agency doing nothing more than acknowledging it is aware of the incidents and stating it is in contact with the manufacturer.
We approached Tesla for comment and will update this article if we hear back. ®
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[1] https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_nhtsa_on_fsd_and_railroad_crossings.pdf
[2] https://www.nhtsa.gov/
[3] https://account.theregister.com/register/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aNxTAQvOs6IAlaXsZCfGRQAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://dawnproject.com/
[6] https://vimeo.com/1119713798
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNxTAQvOs6IAlaXsZCfGRQAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aNxTAQvOs6IAlaXsZCfGRQAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/18/tesla_fsd_lowvisibility_accident/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/31/tesla_fsd_motorcyclist_killed/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aNxTAQvOs6IAlaXsZCfGRQAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/24/opinion_q2_tesla_bets_on_bot_smoke/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/01/florida_tesla_verdict/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/22/tesla_fast_food/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/03/elon_musk_tesla_deliveries_distraction/
[16] https://www.tesla.com/support/fsd
[17] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aNxTAQvOs6IAlaXsZCfGRQAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The last few percent seem to require experience with the physical world and foresight based on that, instead of a reliance on sensors. I don't think any of the current self driving systems even take into account audible cues.
The other problem is elon has tried to make it as cheap as possible by removing all the decent censors and just using cameras which has been shown to be massively flawed.
"removing all the decent censors "
It's sensors, but somehow when it comes to Musk, maybe you did actually get it right the first time after all.
Fun fact ....
When I worked for a major UK insurer, one of the "legends" of claims was the >£10,000,000 claim which arose after the Selby train crash. We insured the car.
As I heard n gossip, "Why knew trains cost that much ?"
We palmed it off onto our reinsurer. And they spent a lot of money taking quite a few people to court before they were forced to pay up. Turned out that it wasn't a foreseen incident, so the safety barriers were not inadequate.
Any US lawyers have have that for free.
FSD - Fatal, Suicidal, Deadly.
Faulty System Design
FSD - Fools' Self Destruction
Not the first time I've seen a video like that
although the other one had the car stopped at right angles to the crossing.
The screen showed the cameras were interpreting the individual train carriages as giant Tesla cars, that kept warping in shape and size. Likewise it seemed to interpret the flashing red crossing lights as just red traffic lights that kept moving.
.....did no-one program in a way for the car to recognise a rail crossing, given they're a little more binary in rights of way than normal road junctions?
Re: Not the first time I've seen a video like that
A train doing about 40MPH !!!! Whoever heard of such a thing!!!!! Looks very dangerous to me, a peril to car drivers. Ban them!!!
< / s >
Re: Not the first time I've seen a video like that
Simply give cars priority at level crossings. Why should a bunch of cars all have to wait for a single train?
Re: Not the first time I've seen a video like that
Poor people take the train. Rich people drive cars.
Re: Not the first time I've seen a video like that
did no-one program in a way for the car to recognise a rail crossing
It wouldn't be easy since some have gates, some just have lights, it is not uncommon for them to be angled, etc. One hopes that the maintenance is good on them but there are probably some situations where you have either the lights or the bell not operating so a self driving car will need to be able to "hear" the bell even if the light isn't flashing or is perhaps blocked by driven snow (LEDs suck for melting snow off, that was never a problem with incandescent lights)
It is also common to see trains that are "near" the crossing (i.e. stopped up the tracks a bit to unload) will trigger the lights and bell but the correct move is to stop, look both ways, then cross. Sometimes crossing with gates even do that - the lights and bell are going but the gate is up. I'm not sure exactly how that works, maybe the train is able to command the gate to be raised if it is going to sit around in the area without blocking the crossing.
Sometimes in situations like that the train will be moving, so the lights and bell will be flashing/ringing, then stop, then start again as the train moves around up the way a bit perhaps to push a few cars off onto a siding and/or add a few cars.
There is a lot of nuance to crossings beyond "if the lights are flashing and the gate is down you have to stop" that a self driving car will have to deal with. You don't want to program one to always stop for flashing lights and bells because in some places it might end up sitting there for a few hours while angry drivers honk and are forced to drive around it.
It's still called FSD though
Those Americans will allow anything to be called anything, won't they?
Well, good news -- introducing my latest invention, it's the Fully Touchable Fire (beta)! This fire is powerful enough to burn down your entire village (including its idiot) and one day will be fully touchable with your bare hands! For now you have to use flame-proof gloves.
Re: It's still called FSD though
Ok, unironically would fund this to sell out when it goes public. If we're going to be a clownshow at least let me do it in leather seats.
Rename FSD
Idiot Driver
Dumb Driver
Dumb Idiot Driver
Meet My Maker Mode
I Feeling Lucky
Re: Rename FSD
How about:
Supervised Assisted Driving. SAD. Seems more appropriate.
Pattern recognition
My son spent over 2 years working on a project involving pattern recognition. The conclusions of the project were two fold:
1/ You need an incredible amount of computer power to recognise things that the human brain recognises in a millisecond
2/ Simple changes in the orientation of an object can confuse the computer e.g. a human sideways is not the same as a human face-on.
I woud not trust a "self driving" car as far as I could throw a Tesla
Never race trains to crossings, if it's a draw, you lose...
But in seriousness, this is why "true" self driving cars are still years away - autonomous vehicles have been able to do 90% of what they need to for a couple of decades now, then maybe added another 5% since the early 2000's, but now comes the final 5% and boy are those last few problems a bitch to solve...