My Tesla did something on Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.1, and it garnered quite the response from the internet.
I received access to Tesla’s FSD v14.1 on Tuesday night, and by Wednesday, I was already using it and seeing all the progress the company had made from v13.2.9.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.1 first impressions: Robotaxi-like features arrive
However, there was one thing that it did during the drive that I shared on our social media accounts, and it really got a lot of interesting reactions from people from all corners of the world.
I’ll give some background about the situation: I was driving on Main Street in Dallastown, PA, and the route was about to take me left onto Pleasant Avenue. It is a tight and usually very congested intersection; Main Street is a popular route for many construction vehicles and even some tractor-trailers.
It is a pretty tight intersection for full-size trucks and larger passenger vehicles. It is not super tight for my Model Y, but it gets to feel congested at times, including with what happened yesterday.
The light when I approached the intersection was a green yield; there was also a solid green arrow at the beginning of my light cycle, but I had arrived after that had already turned into the green yield. Oncoming traffic had a green light.
My Model Y got out into the middle of the intersection, and the light turned yellow, then red. Most people, including myself, would have probably made the left turn after the light turned red since the car was already out in the intersection.
The Tesla, using FSD v14.1, did not. Instead, it chose to back up to the “Stop Here on Red” line, which is further back due to the tight turn the perpendicular traffic has:
🚨 Super cool thing Tesla FSD v14.1 did: it proceeded thru this intersection to turn left, but the light had gone to red before the turn could be completed.
It put itself in reverse and backed up to the “Stop Here on Red” sign/line. Didn’t proceed at a red or impede others. pic.twitter.com/AKb1AI32fK— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 8, 2025
As I mentioned, I would have probably taken the left turn. However, I believe the Tesla did not see the traffic that sat to the left, and because of this, it weighed the turn as a higher probability of an accident than if it were to just back up to the line.
If you look at these two screenshots from when the light was yellow and red, Tesla’s driver visualization does not have any idea what traffic is to the left on Pleasant Avenue:
I believe that, since FSD could not tell what traffic was down to the left, it chose to reverse.
People had some polarizing opinions on it:
Tesla self-driving can reverse to get out of potentially dangerous positions. https://t.co/sxslalqphL
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) October 8, 2025
is it not legal to wait in the intersection to turn? I’ve always done that and turned after it goes red if needed
— wadu (@waduhekwaduhek2) October 8, 2025
WOW okay that is impressive ! And did it with good speed
— Ryan’s Model Y (@ryanjaycowan) October 8, 2025
Impressive that it has this capability, but it’s not the correct move. Green, yellow, red only dictate when you can enter the intersection, once you are in the intersection you must complete your maneuver, not back up. There are plenty of intersections where you HAVE to make the…
— doyouwanttoknow? (@climateyupa) October 8, 2025
As far as the legality of the move, it does not seem to be against Pennsylvania law to go through or choose to back up. I have seen many cars do both things over the course of my life of driving in this state, and neither has ever gotten anyone a ticket.
I think FSD just did what it felt was the safer option here.