We all knew the day would come when Tesla’s much-discussed Robotaxi program would experience its first accident. But no one expected it to happen with such ironic flair. In a moment that seems pulled straight from a Silicon Valley parody, Tesla’s autonomous vehicle lightly collided with a parked Toyota Camry, marking the first known fender-bender of its driverless fleet.
In a now widely circulated video posted on X (formerly Twitter) on June 24, Tesla’s vision-only Robotaxi was captured gently bumping into a stationary car. The incident took place in the parking lot of a pizza place, with Tesla influencer Chris (aka DirtyTesla) behind the camera.
Initially, the video appeared to show the car navigating a tight space, but upon closer inspection, Chris confirmed that the Robotaxi had made contact. The self-driving vehicle turned its wheels and slowly rolled into the side of a parked Toyota Camry, tapping its door with a front tire before stopping and activating its hazard lights. No damage was reported, but symbolically, the impact hit harder than the tire ever did.
“The tire lightly kissed the parked Toyota Camry’s door,” Chris admitted on Elon Musk’s platform, X, after reviewing the footage.
Chris explained that the Robotaxi had failed to properly enter the parking lot and prematurely ended the ride, dropping him off awkwardly near the entrance. As he stepped out and started recording, the car, which should have been stationary, suddenly moved forward toward the Camry, seemingly without driver input.
The safety operator inside, interestingly, wasn’t seated behind the wheel but rather in the passenger seat, a placement that raised eyebrows considering Musk’s prior statements about safety. Musk had once declared that Tesla Robotaxis would run completely unmanned, although that dream now seems further out of reach.
Tesla previously removed ultrasonic sensors in favor of a pure vision-only system in 2022, claiming it could deliver better results. But this small crash suggests otherwise, especially for a task as fundamental as spotting a parked object.
In theory, basic collision-avoidance systems—like those used in far less expensive cars should have detected the Camry. Critics online were quick to point out that Waymo, Tesla’s main competitor in autonomous driving, seems far ahead in terms of operational safety and technical maturity.
Fortunately, the incident didn’t result in serious damage, injury, or high-speed chaos. But it did raise red flags about how early-stage Tesla’s Robotaxi system still is, even as Musk ramps up promotion and promises production-ready autonomy.
“It’s a rookie-level mistake,” one user posted. “Like watching a toddler try to park a minivan.”
