Tesla to limit drivers’ ability to do ‘crazy things’ while using autopilot
Automaker touts technology’s ability to help avoid accidents among vehicles with system
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk is warning that some new limits may be coming to the company’s autopilot feature because of “some fairly crazy videos on YouTube” showing drivers behaving dangerously while the car is in control.
Tesla doesn’t recommend taking your hands off the wheel while the car is in autopilot mode. Yet that’s exactly what some people are doing, leading to things like near-misses with other vehicles.
Even the New York Times’ video review made a big deal out of being able to drive hands-free.
“This is not good,” Musk said on an earnings call this week. “We’ll put on some constraints on autopilot to minimize people doing crazy things with it.”
Musk didn’t elaborate on what kinds of new restrictions autopilot users could soon face, though it’s likely that they would show up in the form of another software update. On the plus side, Musk said, there’s some evidence that autopilot has already helped prevent “many accidents” so far among the 40,000 Tesla vehicles that have it.
The warning from Tesla is just the latest from high-tech automakers about the dangerous ease some people have in ceding their control to a relatively new technology.
Google’s latest monthly update on its driverless car project reported that at least one test driver turned around to look for something in the back seat while the computer was doing the driving — at more than 100 km/h.
“We saw human nature at work,” Google said in its report. “People trust technology very quickly once they see it works.”