Elon Musk claims Tesla FSD drivers can now text and drive, do police agree?

Elon Musk has confirmed that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system now allows drivers to text and drive, though he added a caveat that it depends on the “context of surrounding traffic.”

This comes just a month after the CEO promised the feature was coming, despite the obvious legal and safety concerns surrounding it.

Does the law agree with this?

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) today, Musk responded to a question about whether the latest FSD v14.2.1 update allows for texting and driving. The CEO replied:

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“Depending on context of surrounding traffic, yes.”

This confirmation follows a statement Musk made at a shareholder meeting in early November, which we reported on at the time. Back then, Musk claimed that Tesla would “allow you to text and drive” within “a month or two” after looking at safety statistics.

It appears Tesla is moving forward with this timeline, even as FSD remains a Level 2 driver-assist system.

Currently, Tesla’s driver monitoring system uses the cabin camera to track eye movement. If a driver looks down at their phone for too long, the system issues a “pay attention” warning (often called a “nag”) and can eventually disengage the system and issue a “strike.” Five strikes result in a suspension of FSD features.

Musk’s comment suggests that Tesla is relaxing these monitoring parameters in specific scenarios, likely in stop-and-go traffic or at red lights, where the system deems it “safe” for the driver to look away.

However, this doesn’t change the legal reality. As we noted last month, texting and driving is illegal in most jurisdictions, including almost all US states. A software update from Tesla does not supersede state laws.

As we suspected at the time, instead of classifying FSD as a level 3 or 4 system, where Tesla takes responsibility for the vehicles under certain conditions and allow the driver not to pay attention, the automaker is instead simply relazing its driver monitoring rules and leaving it to the driver to take on the risk of texting and driving under its level 2 driver assistance system.

This development also comes amidst a rough few weeks for Tesla’s self-driving credibility. Late last month, Musk finally admitted that no other automakers want to license Tesla FSD, a long-time hope for bulls. Furthermore, we just reported on Tesla hinting at a new camera upgrade, casting more doubt on the promise that current hardware (HW3/HW4) is sufficient for true unsupervised autonomy.

To “allow” texting and driving in a legal sense, Tesla would need to take liability for the vehicle and operate at SAE Level 3 or higher. Since FSD is still “Supervised,” the driver is 100% responsible for the vehicle. If you text and drive because Elon Musk said you could, and you crash or get pulled over, it is entirely on you.

Electrek’s Take

This is another dangerous blurring of the lines by Elon Musk.

Let’s be clear: You cannot legally text and drive just because your car’s CEO says it’s okay “depending on context.” If a police officer sees you looking at your phone, they aren’t going to care what version of FSD you are running.

What Musk really means here is that Tesla is disabling the safety feature that stops you from texting and driving in certain situations. He is removing the “nag” that detects phone use. That doesn’t make it legal, and it certainly doesn’t make it safe in a system that still requires constant supervision.

We have seen this pattern before. Tesla makes the driver monitoring looser to make the system feel more capable than it is, encouraging complacency. With FSD v14.2.1, it seems Tesla is confident enough to let you look at your phone at a red light without yelling at you. That’s a convenience feature at the cost of safety, not a step toward autonomy.

Until Tesla is willing to take liability for the drive, which they absolutely are not doing here, FSD is a Level 2 system. Eyes on the road, folks.