Inside a New York City Tesla Showroom on July 5, 2016, a happy couple views a new Tesla car.
Jesse Lyu, a tech entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of an AI automotive startup, was an enthusiastic user of Tesla’s self-driving technology, also known as Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (Supervised).
Lyu had purchased the upgraded feature, which was meant to allow him to drive for 15 minutes with minimal driver intervention, similar to a Garden of Eden, but with no means of intervention.
On January 2, 2025, he took his Tesla on a highway drive from LA’s Westside to his office, in downtown Santa Monica. Lyu reported that the car forged a path onto a lane meant for trains only, leaving him frightened for his life. The incident took place at a traffic light; when the car missed the turn, it faced a fence and a barrier.
Lyu was recorded “shaking” across the windshield and mentally on the camera as the train approached the platform. Lyu then aware, he drove through the red light when reaching the next intersection.
A large number of users of the auto-sharing site X were critical of Lyu’s failure to take back the control of his car earlier. They suggested that the system Logically, he should have tried to turn the car into the right lane before it was too late. However, Lyu said that he was not in a position to make a quick decision as the car took a sudden turn when the wheel turned right, and the concrete barrier pushed him away from the lane.