On a Canadian highway, police stopped a 20-year-old driver who is said to have gone to sleep at Tesla at a high speed. Police said the electric car was traveling more than 140 km / h in the driver assistance program. The driver and front passenger seats were fully bent and both occupants were asleep.

When the patrol operates on a blue light, the car automatically accelerates to 150 km / h. At this point a maximum of 110 km / h was allowed. He had never seen anything like it in his life, with official Darin Turnbull describing the incident on state broadcaster CBC. “I have been with the police for 23 years, most of them are with the traffic police, but I am speechless. No one saw the windshield to see where the car was going. “

The system known as “Autopilot” is an advanced driver assistance program, but you have to drive the car yourself. However, contrary to the manufacturer’s recommendations, cars can later be manipulated to change or bypass security systems.

Eventually the car was stopped, police reported the 20-year-old driving at a high speed and withdrew his driver’s license for 24 hours due to fatigue. After an investigation, he was later charged with dangerous driving. He is to appear in court in December. The incident occurred near Ponoka in Alberta province in early July, but has just been made public. A callgirl alerted the police at the time.

In August, Tesla boss Elon Musk spoke candidly about criticism of the “Autopilot” driver assistance program. The term was not misleading in any way, he told the then-trade journal “Automobile News”. The excitement about it is “silly”. After several fatal accidents, Tesla was accused of using the name to suggest that it was a technology for autonomous driving and not just assistance programs.

From: APA / dpa