Tesla Model Y Euro NCAP Results Show Dan O'Dowd and the World That FSD Is Top Class

Tesla is in the middle of a smear campaign targeting its safety assist systems, Autopilot and Full Self-Driving. The Dawn Project Founder Dan O’Dowd is the spearhead of this campaign after claiming that Tesla FSD doesn’t recognize children. Ralph Nader, the author of the book “Unsafe at any speed,” is also among those that urged NHTSA to ban Tesla FSD from cars. Interestingly, several of these campaigns started around the same time, pointing to concerted efforts to block Tesla’s automated driving system.

In one of the latest developments, Dan O’Dowd challenged Elon Musk to a public FSD test. “It’s time to bet your product, your technology, your reputation, your credibility, your engineering prowess against mine,” wrote O’Dowd in his challenge letter. He names himself the “Creator of Nuclear Weapons Software that Never Fails and Can’t be Hacked.” This bold statement shows he forgets that everything can be hacked, given enough effort and time poured into it.

Well, with the release of Euro NCAP results, Dan O’Dowd couldn’t have gotten a more public reply to his challenge. The answer was so powerful and widespread that even the Australian safety assessment body ANCAP shared the results. According to Euro NCAP, Tesla Model Y made at Giga Berlin was the safest vehicle ever tested bar none. In the Safety Assist department, the Model Y with camera-only Tesla Vision blew away the charts, with a near-perfect 98% score.

But you don’t have to take our words for granted, just head below and watch the video. Starting at 02:33, you’ll see the Tesla Model Y expertly avoiding whatever the testers threw its way, from moving dummies to other vehicles. Not once the safety assist software showed a weakness, which explains why the safety score was the highest ever achieved by any car.

Although not related to this matter, we can see in the video that the Tesla Model Y made in Germany features a central airbag. This helps with far-side excursion in the case of a lateral impact. The feature was introduced earlier this year to the cars built at Giga Shanghai, but it is yet to get to U.S.-built vehicles.