By Daniel Levi
Tesla has fired a former Autopilot employee named John Bernal after he posted driverless tech reviews on his YouTube channel, AI Addict. Prior to his firing, Bernal said that before he was dismissed, his managers verbally told him he “broke Tesla policy” and that his YouTube channel was a “conflict of interest.”
Bernal started his career at Tesla in August 2020 where he worked as a data annotation specialist in an office in San Mateo, California. According to the records he shared with CNBC, he was later moved into the role of advanced driver assistance systems test operator. He was fired from the company on the second week of February 2022.
Bernal’s videos show both casual and stress tests of Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta in real-world situations. The videos also show how the FSD Beta system worked in different locations around Silicon Valley. Bernal said that before he was dismissed, his managers verbally told him he “broke Tesla policy” and that his YouTube channel was a “conflict of interest.”
John Bernal
However, Bernal denied disclosing anything in his videos that Tesla had not released to the public. “The FSD Beta releases I was demonstrating were end-user consumer products,” he said. But according to CNBC and other outlets that have seen his videos, his videos sometimes show problems with Tesla’s FSD Beta system, and some other videos showed the FSD system not working perfectly.
For example, in March 2021, Bernal posted a video titled“FSD Beta 8.2 Oakland – Close Calls, Pedestrians, Bicycles!” that showed his car experiencing several “disengagements” where the FSD Beta required Bernal to take over steering manually to avoid danger. “At 11 minutes and 58 seconds into the video, the Tesla FSD Beta system begins to roll into an intersection just as a vehicle is crossing in front of Bernal’s Model 3. He narrowly avoided hitting the other car,” CNBC reported.
Here is what Teslarati also said about Bernal’s videos:
“Being one of the system’s users who typically pushes the advanced driver-assist system to its limits, some of his videos featured flaws and shortcomings in Full Self-Driving Beta’s capabilities. This included a rather dramatic video of FSD Beta 9 in downtown San Francisco, which featured several mistakes in the system’s maneuvers, as well as an actual accident involving FSD Beta 10.10 in downtown San Jose, which featured Bernal’s Model 3 hitting a traffic bollard.”
Meanwhile, following his termination from the company, Tesla decided to off Bernal’s access to the FSD Beta system in the vehicle he personally owns. This, according to the former employee, was despite the fact that he didn’t have any safety “strikes” in the software. Bernal’s 2021 Tesla Model 3 is still equipped with Tesla’s premium driver-assistance software, which was given to him as a free perk when he purchased the vehicle as an employee.
Below is how he describes his AI Addict channel
“Here on AI Addict we are dedicated to showing honest reviews of production EV vehicles to educate the average consumer We specialize in reviewing ADAS Safety products within consumer EV vehicles. If you’re a manufacture, dealer or individual who has an EV Vehicle or product you want featured on our channel please contact us at ******@gmail.com.”
Below are some of his videos
another one
