Recently, a Tesla Cybertruck going for a test drive with Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software almost became a victim of a near-accident whereby a landslide occurred and threatened to fall on the road in a winding mountainous region in Northern California. The action occurred by the side of Highway 1 coast in the Big Sur area and highlighted the performance of the FSD feature of Tesla as well as the off-road potential of the Cybertruck.
The Incident
Giving an account to TV, the driver of the truck, a lady identified as Sarah Martinez, said that the incident occurred when they were using the all-electric truck with FSD mode during a drive alongside the coastal highway. There was an abrupt shaking of the ground, blowing off dust, and movement from the area above the cliff.
“I heard a rumble, and within a second or two, the truck automatically decelerated and came to a full stop,” she said. “Then the hillside just gave way in front of me.”
In the same video that circulated on social media, the Cybertruck stops seamlessly right on the border of the point where rocks and small debris fall on the asphalt. The driver was fortunate enough to be okay, but the car was pressed into off-road mode and, with caution, drove along a safe distance to the left of the road, avoiding most of the things blocking it.
Thank you @Tesla for making an amazing @cybertruck. Yesterday mine stopped on a dime on a wet road just before we would have been sucked into a crazy landslide. And then I put it in off-road mode and I drove through the landslide once it stopped instead of staying in a dangerous… pic.twitter.com/ibAZ3sZtof
— joeldwright (@JoeldWright) April 3, 2025
How FSD Saved the Driver
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) feature that is available in beta also uses GPS data and real-time cameras and ultrasonic sensors, as well as neural networks for predictive modeling to decipher the state of roads and to decide how to drive. Despite receiving class-A driver-safety systems with active supervision status that is still significant, they are now debating how close Tesla and other competitors are to achieving the goal of autonomous driving.
While some of the media are already considering FSD partly responsible for all the positive outcomes instead of qualified human judgment, it must be admitted such occurrences prove that Tesla has achieved a lot.
“The ability to detect abnormal movement and respond faster than a human driver can make a life-saving difference,” said Dr. Michelle Tang, an automotive AI researcher at Stanford University. “What we’re seeing is how supervised autonomy can serve as a second pair of eyes—one that doesn’t blink or get distracted.”
The Cybertruck, with its frame based on the stainless steel exoskeleton and having an option for adaptive air suspension, is already marketed as an off-road vehicle for use beyond the blacktop. However, coupling such raw durability with computational intelligence provides the truck with the unique advantage of responding to unpredictable natural terrains. As for the unpromising description that Elon Musk once made about the Cybertruck being “apocalypse-proof,” this kind of event gives it more credibility.
What does the driver say about the situation?
Martinez, who recently bought the truck and has been enjoying its features of both the body and the self-driving technology, was facing it for the first time.
“I love off-roading, but this was next level. It felt like the truck was reading the environment even before I processed what was happening. And once I switched to off-road mode, it handled the uneven ground like a pro.”
About 40 minutes later, local emergency responders arrived at the scene, and, besides, there were no other cars involved in the resultant landslide. Caltrans has since closed the said portion of the highway to conduct cleanup operations and assessments of the area due to its warning on unstable slopes the recent rains brought.
Tesla has not stated the incident, yet insiders report the company is now looking at telemetry data of the electric car to improve the car’s hazard detection algorithms. The video is shared on social media platforms and the internet, eliciting discussions not only in an EV-related community but also with safety advocates and authorities.
