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Tesla Driver Spotted Sound Asleep at the Wheel, While Doing 55mph

Another video of a Tesla driver apparently taking a nap at the wheel while traveling down the highway is making the rounds online.
Video shows driver sleeping at the wheel of his Tesla on the Massachusetts turnpike 40 photos
Photo: Twitter / Dakota Randall
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It was shot by a fellow motorist by the name Dakota Randall on I-90 in Massachusetts and it shows both the driver and the front seat passenger catching some Zs while the car is traveling at about 55-60 mph. Randall himself tells NBC Boston that he personally tried to wake the driver up by honking, but had no success.

“I kind of looked over and saw what I thought was somebody asleep at the wheel and I was like that can’t be right, so I did a double take, looked over and sure enough this guy was just, head between his legs completely asleep,” Randall explains. “It seemed like he had his cruise control on around like 55-60 miles per hour.”

Randall says he honked several times but it didn’t work in terms of waking the two up. So he sped up and left the Tesla behind. He didn’t contact the police about the incident, even though he had the video to backup his story.

In the same interview, Randall adds that this particular incident taught him an important lesson: to keep his eyes peeled whenever he spots a Tesla in traffic because who knows if the driver is alert or not.

But here’s the thing: while cases of Autopilot misuse do exist and are well documented, there’s no way of telling if this is one of them. Autopilot mode includes now an extra safety measure where, if not enough torque is applied on the wheel, the driver receives several audio and visual warnings, and then gets shut out of the mode for the remainder of the trip if he ignores them. In other words: if the car senses that the driver doesn’t have his hands on the wheel, it disables Autopilot.

In a thread on Twitter, Randall says that, if this was a hoax on the part of the Tesla driver, he was not aware of it. He includes a statement from Tesla saying that this was most likely a prank of some sort.



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About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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