Auto Drive: Dawn’s Tesla Ban, Waymo’s Teen & Philly Plan & Also’s $200M Raise

It’s been just under two weeks since F1: The Movie was released—and if you haven’t seen it, you really should!

While we don’t indulge in spoilers here (except for the ones fitted on cars), it’s no secret that the movie is about fast cars and the importance, thrill, and need for speed (duh, it’s called F1).

Extreme speed is a primal requirement in car races, but it’s one that automakers shouldn’t indulge in when making their products, especially when it comes to autonomous mobility. It’s completely unsafe for self-driving vehicles if they can’t actually drive themselves SAFELY.

That’s where The Dawn Project comes in.

This public safety advocacy group is advocating for lawmakers to ban Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software for the sake of public safety.

The call for the ban came after the group, along with Tesla Takedown and ResistAustin, demonstrated that Tesla’s latest FSD software (version 13.2.9) “will still run down a child [mannequin] crossing the road while illegally blowing past a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing and stop sign extended.”

This test was conducted 8 times, and the results were the same each time. Not just that, the software didn’t disengage or alert the driver that a collision occurred.

“Self-driving software that illegally blows past stopped school buses and runs down children crossing the road must be banned immediately,” said Dan O’Dowd, Founder of The Dawn Project. “Tesla’s failure to address this critical safety defect demonstrates Elon Musk’s utter negligence and contempt for public safety. If Tesla’s engineers cannot fix this egregiously dangerous safety defect, they should be fired. If they can fix it but are choosing not to, they should be prosecuted.”

As such, The Dawn Project and Tesla Takedown are calling for a boycott of Tesla’s vehicles until these critical vulnerabilities are resolved.

The test, which was based on a 2022 North Carolina crash that saw a Tesla operating its FSD hit a child after passing a stopped school bus, was conducted on June 12, 2025—days before Tesla deployed its robotaxis on Austin, Texas streets in a limited trial.


Prior to the launch, several Democratic Texas lawmakers asked Tesla to delay its deployment until September, when new autonomous-driving laws are scheduled to come into effect. However, Tesla didn’t heed this request, and its robotaxis were met with optimistic reviews for the most part, save for some mistakes.

This included some phantom braking moments, including incidents where the car jerked forward and dropped the riders’ belongings on the car’s floor.

Another incident saw Tesla’s robotaxi abruptly stopping when passing police vehicles with flashing lights—twice.

A few days later, Tesla also delivered its first autonomous vehicle that drove itself from Gigafactory Texas to its new owner's home, which was around 30 minutes away, without anyone in the car. This promise was fulfilled before its scheduled date.

All these developments come as Waymo keeps cruising forward in the robotaxi sector.

From expanding to Atlanta to returning to New York for tests, Waymo continues to pedal down and drive on the robotaxi road as it hits the streets of Philadelphia. However, this plan doesn't involve making self-driving cars available to the public but instead focuses on testing its technology with a human in the driver’s seat.

Its cars will also be tested in challenging areas in and around the city, such as Center City and highways. The Alphabet-backed company is also running similar tests in New Jersey.

Ahead of this, Waymo is growing its customer base by offering teen accounts linked to a parent or guardian's account. Waymo Teen Accounts is available for teens aged 14-17 in Metro Phoenix, allowing them to “hail fully autonomous rides independently across 315 square miles of The Valley.”

The accounts come with protocols that offer peace of mind and accountability for families and can include specially trained Rider Support agents to assist teens and keep parents informed if needed. Teens can also share their trip status with their parents with real-time updates.

The idea is to alleviate transportation burdens that fall on busy parents.

“I'm a single mom—my husband passed away—so it's all me. I think of Waymo as my partner to help get everyone where they need to go,” said Kseniya Schminke, a parent in Phoenix.

Waymo plans to bring teen accounts to more cities soon.


While ruling the robotaxi roads might be a far-off goal for Tesla at the moment, it’s facing stiff competition in the electric vehicle (EV) market too.

In addition to BYD, newcomers such as Bezos-backed Slate Auto are posing risks to its dwindling sales.

Add to this Rivian—which is a direct competitor to Tesla’s Cybertruck—which also has a spin-off company called Also.

Read all about how Also got its name.

It originally began as a part of Rivian and was known as Project Inder.

Also might not be a direct competitor to Tesla—yet—as the company is primarily engaged in building e-bikes and more. This includes plans to produce micro-EVs of all shapes and sizes, with its first designs set to be revealed later this year.

The $200 million Also raised recently, courtesy of Greenoaks Capital and conveyed by people familiar with the matter, which took its valuation to $1 billion, might play a big role in accelerating this goal.

While it’s unclear where exactly Also will use this money, it’s most likely going to cause Tesla some problems.

Do you think Tesla will taste success in their pursuit of robotaxi glory? Do you think Waymo will be able to hold onto pole position?

Let us know in the comments below!