There is a massive difference between a vehicle offering driver assistance and a vehicle actually driving itself. Unfortunately, many Tesla owners are finding out the hard way that the automaker’s software isn’t nearly as flawless as the marketing suggests. The latest terrifying example comes out of Houston, Texas, where a newly released dashcam video shows a Cybertruck violently crashing while allegedly operating on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system.
It took place on August 2025 on Houston’s 69 Eastex Freeway. According to a massive lawsuit recently filed in Harris County, driver Justine Saint Amour was traveling with her infant child while the Cybertruck’s Autopilot/FSD system was engaged. As the massive stainless-steel pickup approached a Y-shaped overpass split near the Eastex Park and Ride, the software was supposed to navigate a simple curve to the right.
A Terrifying Error From Tesla’s Autopilot, Or The Driver?
Instead of making the turn, the dashcam footage shows the Cybertruck barreling straight ahead. It blasted through the traffic cones separating the lanes and slammed head-on into the concrete barrier at the edge of the overpass. The impact was so severe that heavy parts of the truck’s bodywork can be seen flying across the pavement.
If the vehicle hadn’t violently ricocheted off a light pole upon impact, the heavy EV likely would have plunged over 30 feet onto the active freeway below.
After the terrifying point-of-view video was released by the plaintiff’s legal team at Hilliard Law, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to X (formerly Twitter) to defend his company. Musk stated that vehicle telemetry logs showed the driver had actually disengaged Autopilot exactly four seconds before the crash.
However, Saint Amour’s attorney, Bob Hilliard, didn’t deny that fact. Instead, he was able to weaponize it. Hilliard pointed out that his client only grabbed the wheel and disengaged the system because she realized the Cybertruck was actively driving them off the bridge. By the time she intervened to save her and her child, the heavy truck was traveling too fast to avoid the wall.
Read More from MotorBiscuit:
- Cybertruck Owner in Texas Sues Tesla for Over $1 Million After Autopilot Crash
- Federal Judge Rejects Appeal, Orders Tesla to Pay $243 Million Judgment Over Fatal Autopilot Crash
Cheap Cameras vs. LiDAR
While the infant was miraculously unharmed in the crash, Saint Amour suffered severe physical trauma, including multiple herniated discs in her neck and back, sprained wrist tendons, and nerve damage. She is now suing Tesla for over $1 million, citing strict liability, negligence, and gross negligence.
The lawsuit takes direct aim at Tesla’s controversial design choices. Unlike competitors such as Waymo, which rely on highly accurate LiDAR sensors, Tesla relies almost exclusively on a vision-only system powered by cameras. The suit alleges this stubborn engineering choice, which it claims relies on “cheap video cameras” combined with the misleading “Full Self-Driving” marketing name, makes the vehicles fundamentally unsafe for public roads.
This lawsuit comes at a particularly bad time for the automaker. Tesla is currently under intense scrutiny from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding the safety of its self-driving tech, and a federal judge recently upheld a staggering $243 million verdict against the company regarding a separate fatal Autopilot crash.
