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Tesla Autopilot crash data bug bounty
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
A hacker recovered Tesla Autopilot crash data the company said didn't exist, costing Tesla $243 million.
The verdict raises questions about Tesla's transparency and readiness for its Cybercab launch.
Background
Tesla's Autopilot system is designed to send video of the five seconds before a crash to Tesla, but in a lawsuit over a fatal crash, Tesla claimed it did not have the data. A hacker working for Tesla's bug bounty program, known as @greentheonly, proved the data existed, leading to a $243 million court verdict against Tesla.
How it unfolded
- recentlyA fatal crash involving a Tesla in Autopilot mode led to a lawsuit, with Tesla claiming it lacked crash data.
- recentlyHacker @greentheonly, part of Tesla's bug bounty program, recovered the crash data, contradicting Tesla's claim.
- Fri, 21 Aug 2026News broke of the $243 million court verdict against Tesla, with reports from Yahoo Finance and Rolling Out.
Who’s saying what
- Hacker
- Green said, 'For any reasonable person, it was obvious the data was there,' implying Tesla's denial was implausible.
- Tesla
- Tesla's outside counsel stated, 'The data transmitted to Tesla does not include either the crash video or snapshot data,' maintaining the data was unavailable.
Still unverified
The hacker alleges Tesla knew the data existed, but this is his claim and not confirmed by Tesla.