Elon Musk says Tesla owners will soon be able to text while driving, despite it being illegal in nearly all 50 states
Fortune
“Depending on context of surrounding traffic, yes.”
Elon Musk4 December 2025- What you'll lose2/5
Road safety, 'depending on context'.
- Condescension0/5
Five words.
- Tone-deafness4/5
Texting while driving is illegal in nearly every state.
- Doom1/5
Mostly for other road users.
- Hypocrisy3/5
FSD (Supervised) still requires the driver to pay attention.
Full time10 pitchforksof a possible 25
Think the referee got a count wrong?
Call received. VAR is having a look: the referee reviews every call, and the score stands until then.
The occasion
X (reply to a user), 4 December 2025.
Context
An X user asked whether one can text and drive while a Tesla is running FSD v14.2.1; Musk answered with this line. It echoed his remark at Tesla's shareholder meeting a month earlier: 'we will allow you to text and drive essentially'. Tesla's FSD (Supervised) still requires the driver to pay attention.
Crowd reaction
Critical commentary
Fortune wrote that 'according to safety experts, Musk's suggestion is actually just plain illegal'. Storyboard18, citing TechCrunch, noted that almost all 50 US states ban texting while driving, 'underscoring the legal conflict with Musk's assertion'.
- Fortune: Elon Musk says Tesla owners will soon be able to text while driving, despite it being illegal in nearly all 50 states
- Storyboard18: Elon Musk claims new Tesla software permits texting while driving despite bans in US states
- Sherwood News: The wildest stuff Elon Musk said at Tesla’s shareholder meeting
- Drive Tesla: Elon Musk says Tesla FSD v14 will soon allow texting while driving
- Where the exact words are printed