How Musk's 'obsessions' and distractions steered 'Full Self-Driving' off course

Public debate that focuses on Elon Musk’s business acumen remains constant — should he run Tesla or Twitter, on both, or neither? — and analyses of his passions and performance continues to grow.

Now The Washington Post has contributed to the coverage as well, with an essay that leans on Musk’s obsession with technology that moves Tesla further into the realm of autonomous driving but makes mistakes that veer into recklessness.

Titled “How Elon Musk knocked Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ off course,” the long story features interviews with a number of the carmaker’s engineers and former employees in an attempt to explain Musk’s erratic moves with FSD software and the risks inherent in putting it prematurely on the street.

The author, Faiz Siddiqui, hones in early on Musk’s conviction that he could eliminate radar sensors on new cars to cut costs and rely only on cameras, a move that his engineers feared would compromise safety — and in fact, led to an uptick in crashes. (Competitors’ cars rely on radar as well as lidar.) He also questions Musk’s “leadership” style, compelling developers at Tesla to work at a “breakneck pace to develop the technology and to push it out to the public before it was ready. Some said they are worried that, even today, the software is not safe to be used on public roads.”

The piece shines a spotlight on other, well-chronicled, adventures (or misadventures) of Musk’s tenure at Tesla and his recent sideshow at Twitter, as well as how he treats his staff. “No one believed me that working for Elon was the way it was until they saw how he operated Twitter,” said John Bernal a former Tesla test engineer. He called Twitter “just the tip of the iceberg on how he operates Tesla.”

A lot has been written about Elon Musk and Tesla’s quest for self-driving. But if you’re looking for a recap of the saga, along with some novel insights into Musk’s motivations that are attributed to former employees, the story, here, could be enlightening.