Tesla ‘Full Self-Driving’ tried to drive owner into a lake, viral video shows (Feb 16, 2026)
https://electrek.co/2026/02/16/tesla-full-self-driving-tried-to-drive-owner-into-lake-viral-video/
A Tesla owner says his car tried to drive him into a lake while using the automaker’s latest “Full Self-Driving” software. The incident, captured on video and posted to social media, has gone viral with over 1 million views, adding to a growing list of dangerous FSD edge cases that raise serious questions about the system’s readiness.
Daniel Milligan posted the video to X on Saturday, tagging both Tesla and Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of Autopilot AI, writing: “My Tesla tried to drive me into a lake today!” The vehicle was running FSD version 14.2.2.4 (build 2025.45.9.1), one of the latest updates Tesla has pushed to its fleet. The post racked up over 1.2 million views, 9,000 likes, and hundreds of reposts within hours
The lake incident is the latest in a pattern of alarming “Full Self-Driving” failures that Electrek has been tracking for years. In May 2025, a Tesla on FSD suddenly veered off road and flipped a car upside down in a crash the driver said he could not prevent. In December, a Tesla driver in China crashed head-on into another vehicle during a livestream demonstrating FSD features, the system initiated a lane change into oncoming traffic.
Two Tesla influencers attempting Elon Musk’s much-hyped coast-to-coast FSD drive didn’t even make it out of California before crashing into road debris.
This incident is not to be confused with the driver who last week intentionally drove his Cybertruck into a lake in Texas.
It wouldn't do it unless you tried to force it. It has a camera below the license plate that looks for ground anomalies. I've had mine slow down and crawl toward large water puddles that cross the road that were just inches deep, and then stop.
In the video, the car had already slowed down to 6mph and began to stop when the driver took it out of self-drive mode. But, had he let it go, it would have stopped on its own.
These cars have logged over one billion miles of road conditions in their database. They know the difference between a water puddle and a lake.