Tesla wants videos of its cars running over child-sized dummies taken down

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The debate over the safety of the company's Full Self-Driving software has been intensified by the demand that an advocacy group remove videos of its vehicles running over child mannequins.

The Dawn Project is fronted by a software developer. The company accuses the videos of defaming and misrepresenting its technology. The Washington Post was the first to report on the letter.

New video of Master Scammer Musk's Full Self-Driving @Tesla ruthlessly mowing down a child mannequin wearing a safety vest in a real school crosswalk. No cones. Room to swerve. Video of pedals.



Everything is real except the child, bc you know what would happen to a real child! pic.twitter.com/a3ut9bpSqG

— Dan O'Dowd (@RealDanODowd) August 15, 2022

"It has come to our attention that you, personally, and The Dawn Project have been defaming the commercial interests of the company." We demand that you immediately cease and desist further dissemination of all defamatory information, issue a formal public retraction within 24 hours and give us the required documentation.

The letter came a few days after the removal of several videos that showed drivers carrying out their own safety tests to determine whether the company's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software would enable it to automatically stop for children walking across or standing in the road.

The Ltr was written by ahawkins8223 on Scribed.

The person is developing.