Why are Tesla fanatics putting their children in the path of moving cars?

theguardian.com:

I’ve been a mum for a relatively short time; I’m not exactly an expert when it comes to this whole parenting thing. Still, there is one piece of advice I can confidently dole out: don’t instruct your child to run in front of a moving vehicle so that you can win an argument with strangers on the internet. Elon Musk obsessives, I’m looking at you.

This month, a software CEO called Dan O’Dowd, who is hellbent on trying to ban Tesla’s “full self-driving” programme, launched an ad campaign claiming that if you put a Tesla in this mode it will mow down children. He based this assertion on a test he ran using a child-sized mannequin dressed in a safety vest, which came to a sticky end in the middle of a road in California.

Musk’s fans, who will not tolerate any criticism of the billionaire, immediately took issue with O’Dowd’s assertions and decided to conduct their own tests – using a real child.

“Is there anyone in the Bay Area with a child who can run in front of my car on Full Self-Driving Beta to make a point? I promise I won’t run them over …” tweeted Omar Qazi, a Tesla shareholder and prominent Musk fan, adding: “(This is a serious request).” Rather than talking some sense into the guy, his followers eagerly engaged; a day after his initial tweet, Qazi announced that he had found a volunteer. “They just have to convince their wife,” he added.

The volunteer appears to have been a Tesla investor called Tad Park, who proceeded to direct a Model 3 Tesla at 8mph towards one of his children. The car, which was in self-driving mode, slowed down and didn’t strike his kid. Hurrah! Park filmed the entire thing and uploaded it to YouTube. It has since been removed because, as a YouTube spokesperson told CNBC last week, the social