The Tesla Autopilot mode is intended to allow drivers to relax a little and take their hands off the wheel, though it isn’t fully autonomous and therefore requires a human to be behind the wheel at all times. One driver appears to have circumvented this requirement by remaining behind the wheel of his vehicle while it was in autopilot mode, while also being completely unconscious.
A new video shows a user of the Tesla Model S Autopilot mode asleep at the wheel, his car steadily moving forwards in traffic while he remains completely motionless, with the Autosteer function of the Autopilot mode seemingly guiding him along the road. With Autopilot alerting drivers if they don’t have a sufficient amount of data to continue driving along a road without human intervention, the vehicle will eventually slow to a halt, activating its hazards in the process. The short video clip doesn’t depict what happened after the driver had woken up (that’s assuming that he did, and isn’t currently still asleep while his car drives him around the streets of America), though it was presumably a pretty alarming moment.
The Tesla Model S.
While the video does highlight the impressive technology behind the Tesla Autopilot mode, it also further illustrates a concern many have with autonomous vehicles. With self-driving trucks having been cleared to drive on US roads last year, with them designed to give drivers a break during long-distance journeys, many feared that although it was a legal requirement for drivers to remain behind the wheel while they were traveling in autopilot mode, it may propose a safety issue if they accidentally fall asleep at the wheel.
Also See: Tesla Autopilot May Have Saved This Guy’s Life
Tesla has combated this potential issue with the introduction of the Autopilot mode’s audio alerts, but clearly some drivers sleep so soundly that they’re able to snooze their way through them.
Check out the video below:
[Via Elektrek]
