Tesla Owner Attempts Autopilot Defense During DUI Stop (arstechnica.com)

It turns out driving drunk is still illegal, even with a driver-assistance system active. "On Saturday, January 13, police discovered a man in his Tesla vehicle on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge," reports Ars Technica. "The San Francisco Chronicle reports that 'the man had apparently passed out in the stopped car while stuck in the flow of busy bridge traffic at 5:30pm, according to the California Highway Patrol." From the report: When police woke the man up, he assured officers that everything was fine because the car was "on autopilot." No one was injured in the incident, and the California Highway Patrol made a snarky tweet about it. Needless to say, other Tesla owners -- and people who own competing systems like Cadillac's Super Cruise -- should not follow this guy's example. No cars on the market right now have fully driverless technology available. Autopilot, Supercruise, and other products are driver assistance products -- they're designed to operate with an attentive human driver as a backup. Driving drunk using one of these systems is just as illegal as driving drunk in a conventional car.

Comments

My fear

[CosmeticLobotamy]

My fear is that once cars are fully automated, cops will still claim you need to be sober to operate them, and being near your car with the keys will still be worth $25,000 in fines and legal fees.

Re:My fear

[Anonymous Coward]

Theoretically they should have no reason to pull you over, other than something like a burned out tail light.

In California, the Highway Patrol gets to keep much of the fines that are collected for a DUI, unlike the local sheriffs or city police who do not receive a direct cut of these fines and thus don't seek out the fine as aggressively. In California this means that the Highway Patrol, aka state troopers in other states, are highly motivated to find drunk drivers and write up that violation above all others. Some people might look at that and say, "what's the problem? It discourages drunk driving" and that's true but it also has negative side effects. For example, in a run of the mill accident the first question that the Highway Patrol asks upon arriving at the scene, once it's obvious that nobody is bleeding to death, is "has anyone been drinking"? If nobody is badly hurt and worse, from their standpoint, nobody was drinking then they leave the scene of the accident quick because why waste time taking a report on a no-profit (for them) accident? They could be out chasing another DUI and the $25,000 payday that goes with it. They couldn't care less about your damaged car or who was at fault for damaging your car or your hurt neck. All they care about is getting that DUI payday. At least, that has been my experience living in California for many years now. Without exception every Highway Patrol officer that I have ever dealt with in California has acted like a dick. They have either ignored me when I needed help or treated me like dirt. They are in service to the all mighty dollar, not the people, as far as I can tell.

PSA

[PCM2]

Yes, he was passed out and the car wasn't moving. Under California law, that's still drunk driving. A friend of mine had his car conk out just as he left the Bay Bridge. He was able to roll it over to the curb, park it, and call a tow truck. A CHP officer beat the tow truck to the scene, though, and determined my friend had been drinking. Because he was still sitting in the car while he waited for the tow, he was charged with a DUI in a car that was motionless and would not even start if he tried.

So don't drink and drive, m'kay?

Re:PSA

[pots]

The parent's example wasn't a very good one, but there are plenty of examples of people being prosecuted for sitting in a car while drunk in places other than California. (Here's one.)

Re:PSA

[phayes]

Way back when the the legal age for drinking was still 18 I used to sleep in my car in the parking lot behind my favorite bar for a few hours rather than attempt driving inebriated. I always tossed my keys under the spare tire in the trunk before entering the car to avoid just this circumstance as a friend got caught sleeping in his car before me and caught a DUI. I got woken up a few times by the neighbourhood cops but not having any keys on me they couldn't accuse me of attempting to drive.

Folding down the rear seat to crawl into the trunk to grab the keys was better than a DUI...

Re:DUI Laws are broad

[Anonymous Coward]

I was at a girls house one night drinking with her. Her dad came home, so out the window I was sent. So here I am drunk, and not at home. Knowing the rules were that you couldn't sleep it off in your truck, I ziptied my keys to the trailer hitch, knowing I was not clever enough to get them off if I was drunk.

I am glad I did. A couple hours after I fell asleep in my truck. *knock knock knock* on the window. Hello officer.

We went through what was going on and I told him I had some drinks and was sleeping them off. He started in on telling me he was charging me when I informed him my keys were ziptied to the bumper hitch. He thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. I was let go with a warning not to drink without a ride home.

Re: Drunk Tesla Haiku

[Dog-Cow]

A system which functions to assist the driver ("pilot") should instead be named after a person capable of driving (flying) without assistance from the driver (pilot)? Perhaps you should rethink that. Or possible, just think.

Re: Drunk Tesla Haiku

[stealth_finger]

Co-pilot suggests it helps, autopilot suggests it does it for you.