Tech CEO left ‘shaken’ after self-driving Tesla swerves onto railroad tracks in California

In January 2025, a tech CEO’s terrifying situation involving the Full Self-Driving (FSD) system from Tesla has reignited conversations over whether self-driving vehicles are safe. Jesse Lyu, the CEO of the AI gadget startup Rabbit, shared the terrifying video on X/Twitter of a moment he found himself in a self-driving Tesla going through light rail tracks in Santa Monica, California.

Lyu spread the video on social media detailing the moment Tesla’s FSD misinterpreted the train line as a road and drove the car onto them. The CEO described it as “literally shaking” and “f–king crazy,” noting that this pitiful situation could quickly become dangerous as a train was nearing.

According to Lyu’s account, he had to steer the vehicle manually along with running the red light to escape the tracks and “save my life.” The whole situation raised incredibly serious questions about the effectiveness of the systems used for FSD to perceive complicated areas in a city accurately.

Experts noted that the Tesla FSD may have been presuming the train tracks as a line of “gigantic, comically elongated cars” Part of the implication is that this is indicative of the difficulties AI encounters while attempting to distinguish an unusual or unexpected element within the driving space.

The incident itself comes as a critical moment for brands like Tesla and the industry for autonomous vehicles in general. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, claimed in a recent statement that the company’s FSD systems would be ready for full autonomous use without human oversight by 2025. Musk also caught the interest of Tesla’s robotaxi vehicle service currently up and working on the streets of San Francisco with company workers.

Yet, this latest incident gave skepticism to the brand and led to questions regarding the ambition of their plans. Such an incident is a stark reminder of the potential dangers of self-driving vehicles and the need for thorough testing and safety protocols.

All of this can come to a point where, in mid-2025, Tesla stated that it would build new electric cars. It remains to be seen how exactly this incident and other FSD incidents will affect their plans and public interest in self-driving vehicles.

With all of that in mind, the road to yours fully autonomous is still paved with difficulties. As one commentary stated significantly correctly, “When AI steers you really wrong,” the consequences can be far more than just a theoretical concern.