With the launch of its own driverless taxi service earlier this year, Tesla made it abundantly clear that it will relentlessly pursue and promise its corporate Holy Grail: a truly autonomous vehicle. CEO Elon Musk took to X, the social media app he owns, on Thursday to state that Tesla owners will be able to text and drive with the latest update to “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” software. It should go without saying that it’s illegal to text and drive in all but one U.S. state, no matter what kind of car you’re driving or what automated driving technology it has. Like the villains in an Indiana Jones movie, Tesla seemingly doesn’t care about the potential consequences as long as the automaker nears its obscene goal.
FSD Version 14 was released earlier this month and introduced an ambitious raft of upgrades, including an improved handling of irregular driving scenarios. Those situations include pulling over for emergency vehicles, offsetting for debris on the road and human gestures. During its development, Musk touted the v14 update as its most significant since v12 and made Tesla vehicles feel sentient. Nothing out of the ordinary for the guy who wants to colonize Mars with his offspring.
Depending on context of surrounding traffic, yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 4, 2025
However, things headed into the legally questionable territory when an owner with FSD v14 posted on X that they didn’t receive a warning when looking at their phone behind the wheel. The user openly asked if they could text and drive. Musk replied, “Depending on context of surrounding traffic, yes.” The answer should be no regardless of the software’s functionality. Any reputable lawyer would tell the CEO of an automaker to say no.
It’s illegal to text and drive and FSD won’t make it legal
Even assuming that Tesla’s FSD driver-assistance software could safely navigate without an attentive operator, which it can’t because it’s just an eyes-on Level 2 system, it’s still legal to text and drive. Despite Musk’s ties to the White House, I highly doubt that the Trump administration would pressure the states to change their laws to actively make their roads more dangerous. Montana is the only state in the union without a statewide law prohibiting the dangerous practice. However, there are plenty of counties and municipalities across Big Sky County with local laws banning texting and driving.
Tesla’s supposedly autonomous software has already been linked to several fatal crashes. After the loss of life, the incidents have proven costly for the electric automaker. A Florida jury in a federal court ordered Tesla to pay $242.6 million for a 2019 crash where an Autopilot-equipped Model S struck a Chevy Tahoe parked on a shoulder. The collision killed a woman and seriously injured her boyfriend. They were standing outside the SUV. Tesla has rejected a $60 million settlement, took the case to trial and paid a steep price.
