Tesla on Autopilot Drove 7 Miles With Drunk Driver Sleeping

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 12/04/2018 09:26 AM | source: autonews | 49 comment(s)

Tesla Autopilot works great as long as it isn't abused. In the USA California a drunk driver got behind the wheel, started driving and put the car on autopilot, and actually fell asleep. Police noticed a sleeping man behind the wheel, drove in front of the car and slowed down the car to a halt.

"One of the officers basically ended up going in front of the vehicle and basically tried to slow it down," a CHP spokesman stated, and it took about seven minutes for an officer pursuing the vehicle to get it to pull over. The officers said that it took a while for them to wake up the driver. Once they did, they drove him to a nearby gas station where he failed a sobriety test. California Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Art Montiel added:

“It’s great that we have this technology; however, we need to remind people that … even though this technology is available, they need to make sure they know they are responsible for maintaining control of the vehicle,”

When activating the Autopilot features, Tesla reminds drivers that they are responsible for the vehicle and they need to be ready to take control at all time.

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cryohellinc
Senior Member

Posts: 3532
Joined: 2014-10-20

#5613336 Posted on: 12/04/2018 09:28 AM

The sooner they create fully automatic self-driving cars and ban people from driving at all, the better for everyone.

RmVA
Member

Posts: 34
Joined: 2016-05-25

#5613355 Posted on: 12/04/2018 10:42 AM

This is great. If he had to drive himself an accident would be a lot more likely.

rl66
Senior Member

Posts: 3557
Joined: 2007-05-31

#5613364 Posted on: 12/04/2018 11:12 AM

From what i have read the driver have "by passed" the Tesla security system to drive, and the police succeed to stop the car slowing down in front of the car with the anti crash system from Tesla...

Human is still the weak point

rl66
Senior Member

Posts: 3557
Joined: 2007-05-31

#5613365 Posted on: 12/04/2018 11:26 AM

The sooner they create fully automatic self-driving cars and ban people from driving at all, the better for everyone.

Yes but there will be a mix with driven vehicule, even more on hard condition country...
Exemple: to go to work in winter the road passage can change within an hour with ice on the road, moutain on one side and ravine on other side (also in summer due to the flying custom check point

).
But i agree that it would be a solution for big cities: "i don't remember who was driven my car from the bar last night,Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Mercedes... I was too drunk" .

RzrTrek
Senior Member

Posts: 2549
Joined: 2012-04-16

#5613367 Posted on: 12/04/2018 11:33 AM

The sooner they create fully automatic self-driving cars and ban people from driving at all, the better for everyone.

@cryohellinc no, just no. Let's not take what little fun there's left in the world and give it all up to a bunch of ones and zeros.

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