Wednesday, January 04, 2023
By Kamal Swami
Tesla’s ‘AUTOPILOT’ Feature Shocks The German Traffic Police
The name of the US-based company Tesla doesn’t require any introduction. The electric cars manufactured under its flagship are the best illustration of the power and performance merged in one unit. However, sometimes there are exceptions. This time the ‘autopilot’ feature of its electric cars has once again come under controversy. According to reports, the German police have caught a person sleeping in his Tesla car while driving.
The sources from police said that a 45-year-old man was caught on the east of Frankfurt highway, while he was driving at the speed of 110 km/h. In a statement given by Bavarian police, they signalled the man to stop, but he didn’t respond to signals or repeated horns from the traffic police. According to traffic officials, “Officers found that the Tesla driver was reclining in the seat with his eyes closed and his hands off the steering wheel”. This strengthened the doubt of police officials, that the person had lost control of the autopilot feature and fallen asleep. After fifteen minutes he woke and responded to instructions given by the police. The officials also added that the man appeared to be suffering from drugs or medicines with his seat in a reclining position.
The police officials also said, they also noticed “a so-called steering wheel weight in the footwall”. It is reported that many Tesla owners follow this trick to cheat the safety system of their car by pretending that their hand is on the steering wheel.
Speaking about the ‘Autopilot’ feature, the feature expects the drivers to stay alert while using it by keeping their hands on the wheel. Unfortunately, many drivers use simple tricks to fool the car by keeping the objects on the steering wheel. It would be interesting to know many Tesla drivers have shown ways of ditching the safety feature of their cars by placing items like water bottles or fruits on the operating components requiring human efforts. One of the drivers stuck an orange on the steering wheel of his Tesla car and posted its video on YouTube with the message, “seems to be enough pressure to override the warning, because it hasn’t asked me to grab the steering wheel”.
