YouTube Removes Video Showing Tesla Driver Using Kids Instead Of Mannequins During Test

YouTube, which is owned by Alphabet Inc GOOGL, has removed videos that showed Tesla Inc TSLA drivers conducting Full Self-Driving (FSD) testing using children instead of mannequins in the driveway. 

According to CNBC, a video was posted on Aug. 14. The footage showed that a Tesla owner, Tad Park, drove a Tesla Model 3 vehicle towards one of his children on the road in the San Francisco Bay Area.

On YouTube, the video was originally posted by a channel named Whole Mars Catalog, which is run by Omar Qazi, a shareholder of Tesla.  

The safety test aimed to determine if a slow-moving Tesla vehicle is equipped to avoid colliding with pedestrians. In these tests, children were used as pedestrians standing or walking on the road. 

Talking about the removal of the video, CNBC quoted a YouTube spokesperson saying, "YouTube doesn't allow content showing a minor participating in dangerous activities or encouraging minors to do dangerous activities. Upon review, we determined that the videos violate our harmful and dangerous policies, and as a result, we removed the content."

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Last week, Software expert Dan O'Dowd called upon Congress to shut down Tesla's FSD program, calling it dangerous. 

In a posted video, O'Dowd claimed that Tesla's FSD Beta ran over child-sized mannequins multiple times. 

Tesla's FSD Beta program has been ongoing for almost two years and has expanded to over 100,000 vehicles without a reported mishap.

In the U.S., Tesla is marketing its driver assistance systems, and the FSD option would cost around $12,000 or $199 per month. 

Earlier in March, Tesla fired an employee after he posted a video on YouTube of his car running into a traffic pylon while using FSD. 

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has raised many concerns about Tesla's FSD Beta testing. 

Last year, in October, the regulator expressed concern about reports that participants in an FSD early-access program had been subject to non-disclosure agreements that discouraged portraying the feature negatively.

Photo courtesy of Tesla