Are Autonomous Cars Real?

A few years ago, I had a dilemma. My aging mother was still driving, and we genuinely feared for her safety and everyone else's. I asked a friend (let's call him David) if Tesla's Full Self-Driving was ready. He paused and said, “No, not yet.”

So, I went deep into research mode. My conclusion: cameras and neural networks would solve this, not the lidar/radar/HD-map approach. Waymo's technology worked, sort of, but a $100K+ Jaguar packed with hardware put it out of reach for most people. And Waymo wouldn't sell you one anyway.

Fast forward. I've owned several Tesla’s over the past three years (shocker, I love them). I helped my mom pick out a Model Y with Hardware 4 and put her on the $99/month FSD subscription. She named her car “Hoke” after the chauffeur in Driving Miss Daisy. 😄

I waited until version 14 before letting her use it. Not perfect, but far safer than her driving alone. That was October 2025.

My wife had (less than kindly) asked me not to use FSD with her in the car. So, I used it daily for commuting & errands. My FSD usage has been at 98% for months.

Then came Red Robin night: seven miles away, highway driving included. My wife said she was willing to turn on FSD for this short trip. We talked the entire way. When the car parked itself, I asked, “Did you forget it was driving?” She smiled and said, “Yes.”

A month later, she drove to Indiana and let FSD handle the whole trip, both ways. She's a convert now. We use it everywhere.

But here's what made me a true believer.

In the last two months, FSD prevented two accidents I wouldn't have avoided myself:

1️⃣ Bumper-to-bumper traffic, full stop. My car suddenly launched forward and to the right. A distracted driver on her phone came screeching through the space we'd just occupied, and the car had already moved us out of her path.

2️⃣ On the highway, a motorcycle came within inches of my left mirror. The car veered right into open space before I could even react.

This technology only gets better from here. People are skeptical when I tell these stories, and I get it. But four people I know have bought a Tesla with FSD after hearing them firsthand.

Cars with no steering wheel or pedals are already being built and shipped across the US for testing made possible by artificial intelligence. Please post your stories below, good or bad about FSD. A car that drives itself is real.

Let that sink in.