A Tesla Inc. *autopilot employee, John Bernal was fired after uploading a video of an honest review of how the company's Full Self Driving (FSD) trial system (beta) works on his YouTube channel.
*Tesla self-drive vehicle tester
Bernal, the Youtuber of the AI Addict channel, was not only fired but Tesla had blocked his access to the FSD Beta in his own personal car, the Tesla Model 3 2021.
It is common knowledge that Tesla will only restrict any use of the system in the event of a software problem.
However, Bernal is said to still be able to use other Tesla premium driving assistance software.
To the best of our knowledge, FSD is a new driver assistance system that is still incomplete or completely debugged, and among the key features of the system is ‘autosteer on city roads’, which allows cars to navigate around complex urban environments without a driver having to move the steering wheel.
According to sources, the price for the FSD system is US $ 12,000 or $ 199 per month in the United States (US).
Tesla, which did not say why Bernal was fired, declined to comment further on the dismissal.
To better understand, follow the brief facts about the story of Youtuber John Bernal’s dismissal from electric car maker Tesla.
Bernal began his career at Tesla as an annotation specialist in August 2020.
He was later transferred to the autopilot role and laid off in the 2nd week of February this year.
His deep interest and love for Tesla led him to buy a Tesla car unit, the Model 3 2021.
Excited as a Tesla employee, he has received free access to an FSD that was supposed to be worth $ 8,000.
In exchange, Tesla is allowed to collect data on its users' internal and external vehicles.
Impressed with Tesla’s ‘potential’ technology, Bernal launched the AI Addict channel on YouTube in February 2021.
The AI Addict channel focused Bernal driving around Silicon Vallley while testing the FSD Beta software.
During his dismissal, Bernal did not give a reason or notice of his dismissal.
The dismissal was made after 1 video of Bernal driving in San Jose had crashed into a roadblock (bollard) while Beta FDS was in use.
Bernal said his manager had scolded him for ‘violating company policy’ and his YouTube channel was a ‘conflict of interest’.
In protest, Bernal said his channel displays transparency about Tesla whether it is good or bad.
