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YouTuber Mark Rober's recent video testing Tesla's autopilot has sparked outrage. On Friday, March 14, 2025, the content creator posted a clip on the platform titled "Can You Fool a Self-Driving Car?" that compared the Musk-owned company's basic autopilot system with Luminar's LiDAR technology.
Rober later shared the video on X with the caption:
"Here is the raw footage of my Tesla going through the wall. Not sure why it disengages 17 frames before hitting the wall but my feet weren’t touching the brake or gas."
The science-themed YouTuber tested how both technologies reacted to a variety of scenarios, including a dummy child in fog, water jets, bright lights, and even a painted wall (Road Runner style).
As the video went viral, X users were quick to criticize the YouTuber. One wrote:
Many called out Mark Rober for sharing a clickbait and misleading video, some even questioning the integrity of his tests.
"Maybe you should’ve stuck to glitter bombing port pirates, clickbait lying doesn’t suit you, especially for a former nasa engineer. It’s not a good look for you," one person said.
"Now we know that none of his previous reviews of anything can be trusted, he’s been caught lying in this video review and probably lied in all his other reviews of other products," another netizen added.
"Zero integrity. Mark just torched his brand," another user commented.
Others came to his defense.
"Why is everyone mad at Mark? Whether it’s on autopilot or FSD, Tesla should automatically stop regardless. Safety should be hardwired into the system. This shouldn’t even be up for debate," one person commented.
"Peak Twitter moment, lol. Engineer-turned YouTuber (with 65M subscribers) does an experiment on a car HE OWNS, demonstrating LiDAR vs. cameras. Commenters are screaming foul play, accused of accepting a bribe, shouting he should be sued & unsubscribing from his builder kits," another person wrote.
"Turning Autopilot on 3 seconds before an imaginary wall at speed with 5 year old technology is disingenuous. Repeat the test with FSD engaged from the start," another person said.
Tesla's Autopilot system is an older driver-assist technology rather than a Full Self-Driving system
According to a March 17 report by Forbes, Mark Rober attempted to compare Tesla's system, which uses "cameras and computer vision," against a Lexus SUV using a LiDAR-based (uses laser to create a 3D model) system. The latter uses an advanced scanning laser to create a 3-D view of the road, according to the outlet.
It is worth noting that all self-driving cars, that is, those that operate without a human, usually operate on LiDAR, cameras, radars, and similar technologies, while Tesla employs vision and AI.
Rober's video soon went viral, racking up millions of views. However, netizens were soon to criticize it, many calling it misleading. Rober claimed he was testing self-driving cars, but in the case of Tesla, he used an unnamed version of its Autopilot system, an older and simpler driver-assist tool (think advanced cruise control), rather than using the company's Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature.
Users alleged that Rober intentionally compared an FDS system with Tesla's Autopilot to make the latter company look bad. Others have called the YouTuber out for allegedly trying to advertise Luminar through the video.
One of the tests Rober performed included driving towards a wall painted to look like its surroundings. While the LIDAR-equipped vehicle successfully stopped before crashing into the wall, the Autopilot-using car did not.
"I can definitively say for the first time in the history of the world, Tesla's optical camera system would absolutely smash through a fake wall without even a slight tap on the brakes," Rober stated in the clip.
Some users noticed that Rober might have engaged Autopilot at different durations over a series of videos and combined them. Many wonder if the clip was manipulated to allegedly make Tesla look worse.
Mark Rober has not publicly reacted to the comments.
