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Tesla Driver Banned From Driving For 18 Months For Sitting in Passenger Seat (theguardian.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the staying-in-your-lane dept.

A 39-year-old motorist pointed his Tesla S60 down a highway at 40 mph -- while sitting in its passenger seat, leaning back with his hands behind his head. Another motorist spotted the empty driver's seat and filmed the car. Now (nearly a year later) the Tesla's owner "has been banned from driving for 18 months," the Guardian reports. The driver, from Nottingham, pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving after admitting he switched seats when he turned on the car's autopilot mode, leaving the car's brakes and steering wheel unmanned. The driver admitted that the stunt in May last year had been silly, but insisted that he was simply "the unlucky one who got caught" trying out the "amazing" feature on the car.

As well as the 18-month driving ban he was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work. He was also put on a 10-day rehabilitation programme and will have to pay £1,800 in costs.
A police officer called the behavior "reckless," adding that autopilot controls like the ones on Teslas "are in no way a substitute for a competent motorist in the driving seat who can react appropriately to the road ahead."

6 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Banned from driving? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does that mean he can do what he did once again? If he was sitting in the passenger seat, he wasn't driving.

  2. No occupancy sensor for driver. by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In this modern age of hold your hand safety features, why exactly doesn't this thing have a seat weight sensor? Or are they just in the passenger seats and the designers simply assumed their would be a driver? Even lawn mowers have them.

    1. Re:No occupancy sensor for driver. by thegarbz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In this modern age of hold your hand safety features, why exactly doesn't this thing have a seat weight sensor?

      Because putting a sensor in for every idiotic thing idiots can do isn't exactly financially viable, and an idiot sensor doesn't exist.
      Plus, all you'll do is breed a better idiot as a result.

    2. Re:No occupancy sensor for driver. by mrclevesque · · Score: 3, Informative

      "They do have a 'hands on steering wheel' sensor."

      Which most of the time does absolutely nothing when you're on the highway and it senses your hands aren't on the wheel:

      https://www.teslarati.com/what... -what-happens-ignore-tesla-autopilot-warnings/

      https://www.reddit.com/r/tesla... -how_often_does_autopilot_warn_you_to_put_your/

  3. Re: Wait, wut? by saloomy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Even so, I wonder when autopilot, or any such software will ever be "good enough". If this guy has stated, that statistically speaking, the car is safer than him, a claim Tesla themselves state, then why should this be a problem? Every time someone gets hurt in a Tesla crash, we call for them to ban this tech, but thousands and thousands of people die every day from driving people. Some of the best drivers still have a one-and-only fatal accident. When will it be enough for us to say "let's transition now, since it's safer, to not requiring the person"?

  4. Re: Wait, wut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If this guy has stated, that statistically speaking, the car is safer than him, a claim Tesla themselves state, then why should this be a problem?

    Because both are lying?

    When you decide to drive you not only put yourself at risk but others too. If it was only a thing between Tesla and the driver we wouldn't care and they would be allowed to bullshit all they like and take whatever risks they want.

    If they are going to try it on public roads we need a bit more than just their claims. It should at least pass an independent driving test.