Here's a use case Tesla Inc. (TSLA) probably didn't put in the marketing materials: emergency hospital runs while in active labor.

When Your Car Becomes Your Chauffeur

A Tesla owner named Ikechi posted on X this week with quite the testimonial. His wife went into labor earlier than expected and needed to get to the hospital before he could reach her. So the car handled it. She got in, activated Full Self-Driving, and the vehicle navigated her to the hospital while she dealt with contractions. "Definitely a great car," Ikechi wrote, which might be the understatement of the month.

Tesla Executives Chime In

The post caught the attention of Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's VP of Autopilot and AI Software. "Teslas are trending to become an essential need," he commented, seizing the moment to highlight FSD's potential real-world value.

Former Tesla AI lead Andrej Karpathy also recently praised the system, specifically with HW4 hardware on his Model X. He called it "flawless" and said it drives "really, really well, smooth, confident, noticeably better than what I'm used to on HW3." He even compared the experience to riding a magnetic levitation train.

The Other Side Of The Story

Of course, not everyone's singing FSD's praises. NHTSA launched an investigation into 2.88 million Tesla vehicles after reviewing multiple reports of traffic violations and accidents involving vehicles using FSD or Autopilot. That's the regulatory reality hanging over these feel-good anecdotes.

Musk's Robot Ambitions

Meanwhile, CEO Elon Musk continues pitching Tesla's Optimus robots as a solution to labor shortages, particularly in Japan. "Optimus will be great for Japan," he said. He's previously called the humanoid robot an "infinite money glitch" capable of everything from performing surgeries to enabling universal basic income by replacing human workers.