Video Shows Tesla Driver Apparently Asleep at the Wheel on Autopilot
It was only a matter of time.
Welp, it finally happened, and fortunately it doesn’t look like anyone got hurt. A video surfaced on Reddit’s Tesla Motors forum on Monday that apparently shows a Tesla Model S driver asleep at the wheel during a traffic jam. The car wasn’t moving particularly fast, but the driver certainly looked dead to the world.
Redditor dirtyfries pointed out that the Model S snoozer wouldn’t be able to nap for long, as the Tesla’s system would shortly start firing off alerts telling him to put his hands on the wheel.
If the sleepy traveler doesn’t take control, the car will slow to a stop. Autopilot has been pretty good at keeping drivers out of trouble so far, avoiding accidents on highways that drivers themselves missed, but Tesla’s software is only meant to keep awake and alert drivers safer on the highway — we’re not quite at the point where you can completely power down and let your car be your chauffeur.
It does come with a pretty sweet more cowbell mode and a bioweapon defense mode, but neither of those will keep you safe if you pass out at the wheel on the freeway — this guy is lucky he was only doing a slow crawl. Watch the video below.
