A Consumer Reports test driver has demonstrated in a new video that, yes, a Tesla vehicle with the Autopilot feature will drive with no one in the driver’s seat.
The question came up after a fatal accident in Texas last weekend, said Jake Fisher, head of auto testing at Consumer Reports. In that crash, according to police, no one was in the driver’s seat of a Tesla Model S when it crashed at high speed, killing two passengers.
The researchers at Consumer Reports said they found that it would be easy to trick Tesla’s Autopilot feature into driving without a driver in the driver’s seat. “In our evaluation, the system not only failed to make sure the driver was paying attention, but it also couldn’t tell if there was a driver there at all,” said Fisher, who conducted the experiment.
Read the article at CNN.