Another video appears to show a Tesla driver asleep behind the wheel

[midian182]

WTF?! Not for the first time, a Tesla driver has been caught on camera asleep behind the wheel as the car traveled down a highway.

The latest clip was captured by Dakota Randall, who says he was driving on an interstate in Newton, Massachusetts, when he noticed both the Tesla driver and passenger were asleep.

A man says he was driving on an interstate in Massachusetts when he noticed a @Tesla with its driver and passenger both asleep.
Details: https://t.co/wwEKYiKTek pic.twitter.com/k0CYVCGyqL

— NBC DFW (@NBCDFW) September 10, 2019

“I kind of looked over and saw what I thought was somebody asleep at the wheel and I was like that can’t be right, so I did a double take, looked over and sure enough this guy was just, head between his legs completely asleep,” Randall told NBC10 Boston.

Randall says he used his car horn to try and wake the sleeping occupants of the car, which was traveling at around 55 – 60 mph, but it didn't work. He added that he drove next to the Tesla for between 45 seconds and a minute before speeding away.

State police said they contacted Randall, but he was unable to provide details on the vehicle or driver.

Tesla has repeatedly warned that its Autopilot feature isn’t a fully autonomous system, yet we’ve seen multiple incidents of people sleeping behind the wheel and sitting in the passenger seat as the vehicles drive themselves. Autopilot alerts drivers when it detects they’re not holding the wheel. If the warnings are ignored for a minute, the feature is switched off for the rest of the drive.

"Many of these videos appear to be dangerous pranks or hoaxes," Tesla said, in a statement. "Our driver-monitoring system repeatedly reminds drivers to remain engaged and prohibits the use of Autopilot when warnings are ignored."

Randall insists that if this was a hoax, he played no part in it. “Maybe the people in the car were faking being asleep, but I’m skeptical,” he said.

There have been several reports of Tesla motorists sleeping while the cars drive on freeways over the last few months, including one in which the vehicle drove 7 miles as a man slept drunkenly behind the wheel.

Last year saw a UK man banned from the roads and fined £1,800 (around $2,225) after engaging Tesla’s autopilot and leaving the driver’s seat.

Man pleads guilty to dangerous driving after switching on his car's autopilot and moving over to the passenger seat while travelling along the M1 near #HemelHempstead: https://t.co/GrKppSLVZT pic.twitter.com/JPYgk9eyDM

— Herts Police (@HertsPolice) April 27, 2018

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/81844-another-video-appears-show-tesla-driver-asleep-behind.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

There've been plenty of times when I felt sleep overcoming me and the need to close my eyes for just a second was biologically overwhelming, but I forced forward to get home as soon as possible.

My Jeep SRT has adaptive cruise control which allows you to take your foot off the accelerator but doesn't steer for you and keeps you on your toes.

These Teslas, especially when driving on long straights are seductively allowing people to do other things behind the wheel whilst not focusing on driving and I can absolutely see how 10 seconds of shuteye can become 5 minutes of sleep.

I recently saw an Audi driver in a Q7 who was eating a meal while his car was driving. I stared at him for a moment and then went on my way. Someday we'll all have this tech and sleeping behind the wheel will be the norm.

 

[Jeff Re]

So this guy was driving and filming?

 

[QuantumPhysics]

If this was a hoax, the driver would have needed to defeat the autopilot with some object on the wheel.

 

[Uncle Al]

Just goes to show there are many people out there that are craving the autonomous vehicles so they can do other things while the car takes care of the trip. Of course the possible downside will be a possible explosion in the birth rate for the same reasons. I wonder what those privacy shades on all the windows are going to cost?

 

[QuantumPhysics]

Just goes to show there are many people out there that are craving the autonomous vehicles so they can do other things while the car takes care of the trip. Of course the possible downside will be a possible explosion in the birth rate for the same reasons. I wonder what those privacy shades on all the windows are going to cost?

I'm not worried about a population explosion:

#1 Prophylactics are widely available and women have a right to choose
#2 Millennials and Generation Z have/will have a hard time affording cars large enough to engage in coitus since mom's basement isn't optimal.
#3 The fatal crashes will eliminate both parties.

 

[Adhmuz]

I'm not worried about a population explosion:

#1 Prophylactics are widely available and women have a right to choose
#2 Millennials and Generation Z have/will have a hard time affording cars large enough to engage in coitus since mom's basement isn't optimal.
#3 The fatal crashes will eliminate both parties.

#1 Yes, but wait until this becomes another viral sensation were morons try to record themselves in the act while driving, those individuals won't generally be intelligent enough to think of using prophylactics.
#2 Mom's basement? Mom's bedroom is really where it's at.
#3 I'm never worried about the morons getting themselves into accidents while being distracted, I would encourage it to be honest, the issue is the poor bastards who get taken out by those distracted A holes.

 

[Stormbreaker]

This will be our future. We used to remember atleast ten to fifteen phone numbers before the era of smartphones. Now majority don't even remember their family numbers. Someday humans won't know how to drive.

 

[Ravalo]

This will be our future. We used to remember atleast ten to fifteen phone numbers before the era of smartphones. Now majority don't even remember their family numbers. Someday humans won't know how to drive.

I’d just say “ok boomer” and end it there, but I think you’re exaggerating a bit

Thanks to this technology, there’s gonna be people who will try to be “different and unique” and do stuff the old way, so humans won’t necessarily stop learning how to drive, because there’s going to be that kind of people that “were born in the wrong generation”

And that “someday” you’re talking about won’t probably exist because AI will kill us all before we stop learning how to drive

 

[Nobina]

Tesla drivers will be the new BMW drivers.