Super Bowl ad shows Elon Musk's Tesla cars crashing and ‘killing children’

A California tech entrepreneur has stepped up his campaign to ban Tesla’s planned full self-driving technology by taking out a television advert during Sunday night’s Super Bowl.

The move is the latest tactic adopted by Dan O’Dowd, 66, who believes the proposed latest iteration of Elon Musk’s technology poses a threat to other road users.

A 30-second ad during the Super Bowl, which has an estimated television audience of more than 100 million people, costs an estimated $7 million (£5.8 million).

Mr Dowd’s graphic advert shows a self-driving Tesla 3 mowing down a child mannequin, ignoring a school bus’s warning lights, hitting a stroller and sweeping past no-entry signs.

It was scheduled to be shown in several parts of the country including Washington DC and several state capitals.

Tesla has sold more than 3.3 million cars since entering the market.

Existing models require drivers to remain in control of the car, although they are equipped with a battery of safety aids including sophisticated cruise control which adjusts a car’s speed to traffic on the road.

The company is developing what it describes as “full self-driving capability” which will automatically slow down and bring cars to a halt as they approach stop signs and traffic lights.

Once approved, it will be available to motorists for $15,000.

Critical of new technology

Mr O’Dowd, who owns several Teslas himself, is fiercely critical of the technology which the company believes could be available by the end of the year.

“If Tesla gets away with this and ships this product and I can’t convince the public that a self-driving car that drives like a drunken, suicidal 13-year-old shouldn’t be on the road, I’m going to fail,” he told the Washington Post.

Elon Musk however disagrees arguing it would be “morally wrong” to ban the technology which will save lives.

Since their introduction, Teslas have been mired in controversy.

In June 2016, Joshua Brown was killed when his Tesla ploughed into a trailer tractor while in auto-pilot mode. He was reportedly watching a film despite the manufacturer’s instructions to maintain control of the car.

Last June, data released by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the US road safety watchdog, released data showing that Teslas accounted for nearly 70 per cent of 392 crashes involving advanced driver assistance technology in the previous 11 months. 

The Telegraph has approached Tesla for comment.