Tesla in “full self-driving” mode tries to drive former SpaceX engineer into a lake

A former SpaceX engineer shared dashboard footage showing his Tesla in "full self-driving" mode steering directly toward a lake before he intervened.

The incident, which Daniel Milligan (@lilmill2000) documented in a widely viewed X post, has reignited debate over the safety and reliability of Tesla’s autonomous driving features, especially as near misses continue to surface.

The supposed “intelligence” in these vehicles also drew comparisons to that one scene from The Office.

Why Tesla's "full self-driving" requires supervision

The Sunday night X post by Daniel Milligan, formerly of SpaceX, drew over 1.5 million views in less than 24 hours. It shows the dashboard camera footage from his Tesla as it made a right turn toward a large body of water.

It continued forward at around 10 mph until Milligan took over, evidenced by the disappearance of the “self-driving” label next to the speed.

“My Tesla tried to drive me into a lake today!” he wrote.

He further listed his “full self-driving” vehicle model as version 14.2.2.4, which expanded its rollout just last month.

The next morning, Milligan repeated his route to see if it would happen again, but apparently Teslas see better in sunlight.

“Just tried it again during the day (same direction and destination) and it completely skipped the boat ramp,” he said. “My guess is that it could actually see the driveway up ahead in the daytime or could more clearly see the lake.”

Since the first Teslas alleging a “full self-driving” mode hit the roads, incidents like this and worse have been piling up.

In May 2025, a Model 3 car in this mode suddenly veered off a street in Alabama, crashing and flipping the vehicle. Miraculously, the driver only suffered a minor injury.

Later that year, a Tesla in China made a lane change into oncoming traffic, resulting in a head-on collision. Again, no one was seriously hurt, but some feel that it’s only a matter of time.

This may be why a judge in California ruled that terms like “autopilot” and “full-self driving” must be changed or else Musk won’t be able to sell the vehicles within the state anymore.

Internet compares Tesla incident to infamous The Office GPS lake scene

As the post spread, few could resist comparing it to that scene from The Office in which Michael puts so much trust in his GPS program that he literally drives his car into a lake. Even Milligan himself couldn't help but think of it.

As always, some die-hard Tesla fans defended the car. For others, the video revived theories that the only thing a "full self-driving" car is good for is getting people killed.

"Elon Musk is going to kill someone if no one stops him," wrote @VnDEFf.

"If you are planning to k*ll your spouse and get away with it," @_WantedWizard began. "Buy/rent them a Te$la , enable FSD, put a destination near cliff or large waterbody. Blame on the FSD."

Kinder viewers simply suggested that the technology is not ready yet. Too bad it's already on the road.

"I know yall don’t wanna hear this but we’re actually further away from this technology being reliable than we think," said @TheRealAmias.

The Daily Dot has reached out to @lilmill2000 for comment via X.

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