Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology faces a credibility crisis: the very engineers and data labelers who train the system don't trust it enough to ride in vehicles using it. A Reuters investigation has exposed a stark disconnect between Tesla's public safety claims and the concerns of its own workforce, even as the company continues to expand its robotaxi operations in Texas cities.

What Are Tesla's Safety Claims Based On?

Tesla has repeatedly claimed that FSD is up to 10 times safer than the average human driver, a statistic cited by company executives at shareholder meetings. However, the methodology behind this claim contains significant flaws that inflate the safety advantage. Tesla compared its crash rate, counting only incidents where airbags deployed, against federal data that includes far less severe crashes requiring a tow truck. This single comparison error inflated its safety claims by a factor of three.

The comparison also stacks the deck in another way: Tesla's fleet averages 4.1 years old, while the national average vehicle age is 12.8 years. Newer cars are inherently safer due to modern safety features. As Carnegie Mellon professor Phil Koopman explained the absurdity of this comparison, "It's like saying: 'My jet airplane is faster than your World War II bomber.' Yeah, so, what's your point?".

professor Phil Koopman

Why Don't Tesla's Own Workers Trust FSD?

Hundreds of Tesla workers spend their days reviewing footage captured by vehicles running FSD. What they see troubles them deeply. The footage shows cats, dogs, and deer being struck without the car braking, near-misses with children, and Teslas blowing through speed limits by 20 to 30 miles per hour. Seven former labelers told Reuters they would not trust FSD to drive them, with one calling Tesla's safety claims "bullshit".

This verdict from people who understand the technology intimately contradicts the company's public messaging. Before Tesla's 2024 Cybercab unveiling and its Austin robotaxi launch, the company's Utah labeling team doubled to around 300 workers in preparation. Nearly a year later, Tesla operates only about 50 robotaxis in Austin, confined to a carefully controlled zone.

How Does Waymo's Approach Compare?

While Tesla struggles with its robotaxi rollout, Waymo has established clear dominance in autonomous vehicle deployment. Texas recently launched a public registration tracker for autonomous vehicles, providing the first accurate accounting of fleet sizes in the state. The data reveals a striking gap between the two companies.

• Waymo's Fleet: 577 autonomous vehicles registered in Texas, operating commercially in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio since March 2025
• Tesla's Fleet: 42 autonomous vehicles registered in Texas, despite launching its robotaxi service in Austin last summer and claiming expansion to Dallas and Houston
• Other Competitors: Avride has 317 vehicles, Nuro has 47, and MOIA has 12 electric autonomous microbuses

The registration data underscores how wide the gap has become between Waymo and Tesla in actual deployment, even as Tesla continues to make bold claims about its technology's readiness.

What Happens Next for Tesla's Self-Driving Claims?

Tesla has not responded to Reuters' findings about its workers' lack of confidence in FSD. The fine print on Tesla's own FSD website still warns that the feature requires active driver supervision, contradicting Musk's public statements about the technology's capabilities. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has received calls from consumer groups and U.S. senators to investigate Tesla's marketing of FSD, but has taken no action so far.

Musk once told shareholders that FSD would soon make texting while driving essentially safe. Six months later, that promise remains unfulfilled. The technology the world's richest man has been promising for a decade is still, by Tesla's own admission, not ready to drive passengers anywhere alone.

Steps to Evaluate Self-Driving Technology Claims

• Check the Methodology: Examine how safety statistics are calculated and what baseline they're compared against; different crash severity definitions can dramatically skew results
• Consider Fleet Age: Newer vehicles have inherent safety advantages; compare fleets of similar age ranges rather than mixing old and new cars
• Look at Real-World Deployment: Actual vehicle registrations and operating zones reveal more about readiness than marketing claims; limited operations in controlled areas suggest ongoing limitations
• Assess Internal Confidence: Worker and engineer confidence in a technology often reveals gaps between public claims and actual performance; skepticism from those closest to the system warrants investigation

The contrast between Tesla's public messaging and its workers' private doubts raises fundamental questions about the state of autonomous driving technology. While Waymo has quietly built a substantial fleet and expanded to multiple Texas cities, Tesla's robotaxi ambitions remain constrained by the very limitations its own workforce has identified.