The Swedish delivery driver, who had activated the autopilot, nodded off behind the wheel and almost overtook a police car when he finally woke up
April 29, 2024 at 1:31 p.m
- After he fell asleep at the wheel, the Tesla Model drove
- Police alerted after another driver noticed the X was in the overtaking line but not overtaking anything
- The driver eventually woke up and veered sharply to the right, almost hitting the police car
A Swedish Tesla driver has been convicted of reckless driving after he fell asleep at the wheel and led police on a 25-mile chase using Autopilot.
The unnamed delivery driver was traveling northeast on the E4 highway when he was spotted by another Tesla driver who found it strange that the Model X was stuck in the fast lane but not overtaking anything. As the second driver drove alongside, he noticed that the man behind the wheel of the X was fast asleep and quickly called the police.
Related: Did Tesla’s Autopilot Recall Updates Go Far Enough? The Feds have doubts and are investigating
When police finally caught up with the 2019 SUV, it had traveled about 26 km since the other driver was alerted and was now near Linköping. But the battery still had many miles left, and despite the police’s best efforts, the driver, the Swedish one, could not be woken up Vibilagare Reports.
Police tried to stop the car at an exit but failed to stop and had to wait for the next exit to appear a few kilometers away. Eventually the driver woke up and must have been so frightened that he jerked the steering wheel to the right, forcing a nearby police car to swerve to avoid a collision. The driver then pulled into a gas station and ended the chase after 25 frightening miles.
The man reportedly told police that he hadn’t slept the night before and was stressed about dropping off the car. He even tried to claim that he had one of his eyes open the whole time, but soon changed his story.
“I am deeply ashamed, it was due to exhaustion,” he told police during interrogation. “I had a Tesla with Autopilot, which made me feel very comfortable.”
Drivers are encouraged to remain alert when using Autopilot, and the system will be disabled if they do not make regular wheel inputs. But such systems, which do not rely on monitoring the driver’s face, can be tricked by placing weights on the steering wheel – although the story does not mention whether the driver used any of these devices.
It also doesn’t say why the police didn’t simply pull in front of the car and reduce its speed, which would probably have forced it to slow down. And you just know that the Arkansas police would have put this jerk on the scene seconds after he arrived on the scene.
Tesla’s Autopilot has not suffered the same setback in Europe as it did in the United States, where safety regulators are currently investigating the virtual recall of more than 2 million cars last December. Tesla should improve Autopilot protections to prevent driver abuse, but NHTSA fears the changes don’t go far enough.