In yet another example of a Tesla owner misusing the driver-assist feature Autopilot, a North Carolina man has shared a video of his Model X cruising down the highway without a driver behind the wheel.
Albert Siplen, owner of the car customization shop House of Toyz in Henderson, North Carolina recently purchased a brand new Tesla Model X, loaded with the Full Self-Driving (FSD) package.
To show off his new hi-tech toy to his friends, he decided to turn Autopilot on and quickly jump to the passenger seat, recording a video of the incident and sharing it to his Facebook page on September 27, 2020.
The video begins with the Model X stopped at a red light, before it accelerates and reaches speeds of over 60mph (96km/h) on the two-lane highway. Siplen films the whole thing from the passenger seat, and comments on the post, “If Tesla’s was the only cars on the road 🤔 it wouldn’t be any accidents”.
The Autopilot driver-assist feature is just that, an assist feature that requires the driver to be ready to take control of the vehicle at any time. Tesla has implemented interval based alerts if it detects the driver is not paying attention based on feedback from the force applied to the wheel. Siplen appears to ignore these alerts, and continues to film comfortably from the passenger seat.
This once again serves as a good reminder not to abuse the advanced safety and driver-assist features on Tesla vehicles. Unsurprisingly, this isn’t the first time a Model X owner has done something as foolish as this year. Last year, a Toronto man filmed himself ‘asleep’ behind the wheel during his drive from Boston to Toronto.
Check out the full video below.
