‘Idiots will be idiots’: driverless Tesla videos on social media spark safety concerns
- Tesla’s driver-assistance systems are not intended to fully replace humans, but that has not stopped owners allowing the cars to drive themselves
- Confusing naming conventions and sweeping claims company CEO Elon Musk has made about the technology have done little to help matters, either
In the short video, three young men are shown dancing in their seats, beers nearby, as the vehicle moves down the highway near other cars at 65 miles per hour (105 kilometres per hour), as shown on the speedometer. Nobody is behind the steering wheel.
Such behaviour is completely illegal and flouts the instructions of the carmaker, which says on its website that Tesla’s driver-assistance system is “intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment”.
Besides Tesla’s “Autopilot” system, which matches a vehicle’s speed to that of surrounding traffic and assists in steering within a clearly marked lane, Tesla offers what it calls “full self-driving capability”.
That program’s capabilities include helping park a car, manoeuvre a vehicle in and out of a tight parking space and guide a car from a highway on-ramp to an off-ramp.
Tesla will alert the driver and ultimately disengage the self-driving system if the driver’s seat belt is not buckled, or if the hands of the driver are not detected on the steering wheel.
However, these protections have proved little match for Tesla motorists determined to misuse their vehicles. The magazine Consumer Reports released a video in which an incredulous tester easily duped a Tesla into driving with no one at the wheel.