Tesla is facing new concerns about its Autopilot system after a report suggested that employees were told to overlook some road rules while training the software.
According to a Business Insider investigation, which spoke to 17 former and current Tesla workers, some employees tasked with training Autopilot were told to teach the system to drive more like a human — even if that meant ignoring traffic laws like illegal U-turns or turning right at a red light in certain places.
A Human-First Approach
Tesla’s data annotation team, which helps Autopilot learn to recognize road signs and markings, was reportedly told to prioritize human-like driving. This team reviews footage from Tesla cars to help train the system.
Some employees claimed they were asked to ignore specific traffic rules during this process.
“It’s a driver-first mentality,” one former employee told Business Insider. “They wanted Autopilot to drive like a person, not like a robot that always follows the rules.”
This revelation follows a July 2024 report from Business Insider, which suggested that Tesla prioritized fine-tuning the Autopilot experience for certain influential figures.
According to that report, four employees claimed that the company focused on improving the software specifically for Elon Musk and other social media personalities with large followings.
One former employee stated, “It seemed like we were purposefully making [Musk’s] car better to make Autopilot look different than it was. It felt dishonest.”
Tesla has not responded to these latest claims.
