Brett Schreiber, Partner at Singleton Schreiber in San Diego and Wailuku, was recently featured in a Rolling Stone article titled "Tesla Is Launching Robotaxis in Austin. Safety Advocates Are Concerned," published on June 9, 2025.
The article critiques Tesla's upcoming robotaxi launch and its Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology. It also highlights Mr. Schreiber's role in multiple personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits filed against Tesla and features his direct critiques on Tesla's shift from its Cybercab concept, its decision to launch in Austin, and his concerns on regulatory oversight.
Commenting on the shift away from the Cybercab and the capabilities of current Tesla vehicles for true autonomy, Mr. Schreiber stated:
"It is a retreat on the idea that they are going to build out a new vehicle that is capable of autonomy. A repeat of the continued lies and misrepresentations from the CEO — namely, that existing Teslas can be turned into robotaxis. There is nothing about the vehicle today, whether you slap some lipstick on the pig of a Model Y, or any other vehicle in their production fleet, that makes it capable of level four or level five autonomy without driver intervention. They simply haven’t gotten there, and just because they keep saying so doesn’t make it true."
Regarding the choice of Austin for the pilot program, he explained:
"It is a more lax environment with respect to enforcement. In many states, California being one of them, they would not be allowed to do this in the way that they are doing it. They fled California for a lot of reasons, the least of which was the fact that they felt more constrained by their ability to roll out and continue to use the public roadways as their own personal test track, and use the members of the public as the guinea pigs in the grand experiment."
Mr. Schreiber also expressed significant concern over the effectiveness of federal oversight, noting that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) "has been completely gutted."
The Rolling Stone article further details NHTSA's ongoing probe into Tesla's FSD, noting a June 19th deadline for information and potential civil penalties. Safety advocates, including Dan O’Dowd, echoed Mr. Schreiber's concerns, warning that "The people of Austin did not sign up to be crash-test dummies for Musk’s reckless deployment of Tesla’s defective and dangerous Full Self-Driving software."
