Lawsuit: Cybertruck Tried to Drive Itself Off Overpass

Tesla's controversial pickup is back in the spotlight, this time in a lawsuit that claims a Cybertruck on Autopilot tried to steer itself off a Houston overpass. In a complaint filed in Harris County, Houston resident Justine Saint Amour says she was driving on the 69 Eastex Freeway in August 2025 with Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" mode turned on when the truck headed straight toward a concrete barrier at a Y-shaped split in the road instead of following the curve, the Houston Chronicle reports.

She says she cut off the system and tried to regain control but slammed into the barrier, leaving her with multiple herniated discs, wrist injuries, and nerve issues in her right hand. She's seeking more than $1 million in damages and accuses Tesla of negligence. Dashcam footage reviewed by the Chronicle shows the Cybertruck navigating a ramp, beginning to take the curve, then plowing into the sidewall, spinning out as the hood flies open and pieces of the vehicle shear off.

• The lawsuit argues that Tesla misrepresented its "Full Self-Driving" system and failed to adopt safety tools used by some rivals, including LiDAR—Light Detection and Ranging—sensors and more robust emergency braking. The filing quotes engineers who allegedly pushed for LiDAR, while CEO Elon Musk has publicly dismissed the technology as "lame" and too costly and unnecessary, favoring camera-based systems instead.
• "While engineers at Tesla recommended the super-human vision of LiDAR be included for self-driving vehicles, and competitors like Waymo and Cruise relied heavily on LiDAR, Musk chose instead to rely only upon cheap video cameras," the lawsuit states, per the Austin American-Statesman.
• In the lawsuit, Musk is described as "an aggressive and irresponsible salesman" who overstates what his products can do. Saint Amour's attorney, Bob Hilliard, said Tesla's choices made the crash "inevitable" and argued the company is selling drivers on the belief their vehicles can safely drive themselves "and that it can do so safely. It can't, and it doesn't."
• After a warning from regulators in California, Tesla now refers to Navigate on Autopilot as Navigate on Autosteer, the Statesman reports. Full Self-Driving has become Full Self-Driving (Supervised).