In a video that became viral over the weekend, a HW3 Tesla running FSD V14 Lite fails to recognize a huge log blocking the road and drives over it without slowing down. The car is probably totaled, but the bigger take is that this accident shows the perils of trying to keep alive old hardware with new features.

         

For years, Elon Musk and Tesla have been promising that every Tesla would become autonomous and earn money for their owners with just a software update. And yet, it's not just software that's keeping Tesla EVs from fulfilling this prophecy. Over the past year, it has become increasingly obvious that Tesla hardware is just as incapable of supporting full, unsupervised autonomy.

FSD 14.1 Lite is a big step forward and will improve safety a lot.
Still Supervised though.
Tonight a large fallen tree was in the road. At 100% FSD the car would have hit it hard. Tried the same spot 3 more times — same result.
Stay alert. @WaitWhat @mikepat711 @Tesla_AI pic.twitter.com/U28rs75lOH

— Michael Balderson PhD. (@Baldersonmichae) August 21, 2026