Posted on 12/02/2018 12:27:47 AM PST by LibWhacker
Police in the Northern California town of Redwood City arrested a man who was traveling on Highway 101 early Friday morning while sleeping behind the wheel of his Tesla Model S.
Officers first spotted the electric luxury sedan driving south at about 70 mph around 3:40 a.m., California Highway Patrol Officer Art Montiel told Business Insider on Friday night.
Montiel said the officers took action when it became clear that the driver, 45-year-old Alexander Samek, was sleeping.
"The driver wasn't responding to lights and sirens," Montiel said.
The officers believed the Tesla may have been operating on Autopilot, a semi-autonomous-driving feature that allows Teslas to drive and change lanes in traffic with minimal human input.
In order to get the sleeping driver's Tesla to stop, Montiel said officers blocked traffic behind the vehicle while another officer traveling in front of the car gradually slowed down, forcing the Tesla, which can respond to varying traffic speeds and accelerate or slow down accordingly, to a complete stop.
"Once the vehicle came to a stop, the officers got out of their patrol cars, approached the Tesla, and knocked on the windows to wake up the driver," Montiel said.
Officers placed Samek in a patrol car, while another one drove the intoxicated man's Tesla off the freeway and parked it at a nearby gas station.
Samek was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Montiel applauded the CHP's "quick thinking" to get the Tesla and its driver out of harm's way.
Several Teslas have crashed while operating on Autopilot in recent months. A man was killed when his Model X SUV slammed into a highway barrier in Mountain View, California, in March.
Teslas equipped with Autopilot cannot drive themselves. The system deploys an escalating series of warnings if it detects that the driver does not have their hands on the steering wheel. If the driver does not respond, the system deactivates itself.
Tesla declined to comment on the incident.
“Teslas equipped with Autopilot cannot drive themselves.”
...sounds like this one could.
Well, he technically wasn’t driving if he was asleep.
It does open up some new lines of defense to try for DUI lawyers, doesn’t it?
Musta been Bobby drunk again
SAMCRO
Interesting, this should be followed up on the trial outcome to see if Tesla jumps in on this . Because when arrested and if he was not in the drivers seat that prosecution cannot claim he was operating that vehicle.
Lots of cars have lane sensing abilities - the smart ones will detect if nobody is “helping” and sound an alert.....
In this state you can be passed out drunk in the back seat of your car, parked in a private parking lot, with the keys out, and be convicted of DWI.
There will be a lot of this when the government finally forces us all to drive “self-driving” cars, and I’ll be laughing.
From the first sentence of the excerpt:
“...while sleeping behind the wheel of his Tesla Model S.”
After working a tough night shift, you are very tired and are struggling to stay awake. You get into your (non-self-driving) car, start it, put a brick on the gas pedal, put in drive, hop into the passenger seat, and hope that the car gets you home. You immediately fall asleep. The car blindly speeds off, hoping to find its garage. Instead, it smashes into a crowd of kids in a school playground, killing a baker's dozen of them. The brick is jarred off the gas, bounces around, and ends up under the driver's seat. Not guilty.
“...drove the intoxicated man’s Tesla off the freeway and parked it at a nearby gas station.”
Awfully nice of them.
They usually impound a vehicle as a result of a DUI...
Within ten years, you will be able to buy a car that drives on its own. So you get up one day, and the kids missed the bus....you load them into the car, and program the car to drive them to school, and return home...without an adult or licensed driver in the car. How will the authorities handle this scenario?
And when yer late with taxes "We'll shut down your car". Etc., etc.
It will be the next hammer in their control tool box. Any perceived slight t'wards state control will result in loss of "vehicular privilege".
I know, seems a bit "tin foil". But something so easily controlled remotely just gives me the creeps. d:^)
Is the trunk still OK? Which state, btw?
Nope, VT
Hopefully, their body cams were on.
Many states have that codicil...The state (or in my town - a college town) the police consider your driveway a city street...so installing a new stereo while having a beer can be a DUI offense.
Actually the cops use it to pick on certain past subjects of police enforcement.
Nevertheless I have two driveways; the one on ‘street A’ is 90’ long and goes to my front door and is marked with my street address. Driveway #2 is on ‘street B,’ is 600’ long and is clearly marked: Private driveway, no trespassing, please bring all deliveries to ‘street A’ - Our attorney said it would be a good idea. We are outside of the city so we have Sheriff enforcement and they’re good folk.
I do work on my truck on a sunny summer day while having a few beers , but driveway #2 is sheltered by a layer of attorney approved legalese...
Should Telsa be arrested for Drunk Driving? The person was not driving. He might get off, because there is no law for self driving cars...
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