Have you ever been so tired from driving that you just wanted to take a nap, but couldn’t because you’d probably cause an accident? Well, if you have one of the new Teslas, you can and one driver did.
As you can see in the video below, a driver of a new Tesla used the car’s new autopilot feature to take a quick nap.
While the new autopilot feature did work to the driver’s advantage, it still can’t be 100% safe and the driver should’ve been more alert.
From Tesla’s website description of the new feature:
“Tesla Autopilot functions like the systems that airplane pilots use when conditions are clear. The driver is still responsible for, and ultimately in control of, the car. What’s more, you always have intuitive access to the information your car is using to inform its actions.”
“This combined suite of features represents the only fully integrated autopilot system involving four different feedback modules: camera, radar, ultrasonics, and GPS. These mutually reinforcing systems offer realtime data feedback from the Tesla fleet, ensuring that the system is continually learning and improving upon itself.”
Fortunately for the driver, all of these new features worked to his advantage and he didn’t end up crashing like this Tesla owner.
Tesla owner Elon Musk is a big believer that his car’s technology will be widespread within two years.
“It’s a much easier problem than people think it is. But it’s not like George Hotz, a one-guy-and-three-months problem. You know, it’s more like, thousands of people for two years,” Musk told Fortune.com in December of 2015.
In that same piece, Fortune.com outlined the five levels of vehicle automation as outlined by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration defines vehicle automation as having five levels. At level 0, the driver is completely in control and by level 4, the vehicle takes over all safety-critical functions and monitors roadway conditions for an entire trip.
For now, some Tesla drivers have successfully used the new autopilot technology correctly and haven’t been injured. On the other hand, others haven’t been as lucky. Regardless, it’s still probably not the best idea to use the feature in California rush hour traffic to take a nap.
[Uproxx]
