Speeding Tesla driver caught napping behind the wheel on Alberta highway

[S'toon]

Didn't put it into Alberta owners, because the owner of the Tesla is actually from BC.

Alberta RCMP have charged a 20-year-old B.C. man for speeding while asleep at the wheel of a Tesla electric car.


RCMP got a call around 4 p.m. on July 9 about a 2019 Tesla Model S speeding south on Highway 2 near Ponoka, about 100 kilometres south of Edmonton.


Both front seats were fully reclined and both occupants appeared to be sound asleep.


The car appeared to be driving in autopilot at more than 140 km/h, RCMP Sgt. Darrin Turnbull told CBC News on Thursday.


"Nobody was looking out the windshield to see where the car was going," Turnbull said.


"I've been in policing for over 23 years, and the majority that in traffic law enforcement, and I'm speechless.


"I've never, ever seen anything like this before but of course the technology wasn't there."

<snip>
Full article at:
Speeding Tesla driver caught napping behind the wheel on Alberta highway

 

[PJFW8]

Didn't put it into Alberta owners, because the owner of the Tesla is actually from BC.

Alberta RCMP have charged a 20-year-old B.C. man for speeding while asleep at the wheel of a Tesla electric car.


RCMP got a call around 4 p.m. on July 9 about a 2019 Tesla Model S speeding south on Highway 2 near Ponoka, about 100 kilometres south of Edmonton.


Both front seats were fully reclined and both occupants appeared to be sound asleep.


The car appeared to be driving in autopilot at more than 140 km/h, RCMP Sgt. Darrin Turnbull told CBC News on Thursday.


"Nobody was looking out the windshield to see where the car was going," Turnbull said.


"I've been in policing for over 23 years, and the majority that in traffic law enforcement, and I'm speechless.


"I've never, ever seen anything like this before but of course the technology wasn't there."

<snip>
Full article at:
Speeding Tesla driver caught napping behind the wheel on Alberta highway

B. S. That is not possible! The "nag" would stop the car after a couple of minutes. How did the caller note that the driver and passenger were apparently asleep at 140km/h? Fully reclined? How do you see that? Does not pass the smell test!

 

[MarcoRP]

B. S. That is not possible! The "nag" would stop the car after a couple of minutes.

You can do the orange trick, or something similar perhaps

 

[PJFW8]

You can do the orange trick, or something similar perhaps

Perhaps. Orange trick never worked for me. My guess is the caller lied or the Tesla driver was spoofing!

 

[Chris3g]

the "orange trick" doesn't work reliably because an orange is not heavy enough. the attention detection system is simply a torque sensor - if you place enough weight on the wheel to create sufficient torque to satisfy the system, you will never get a nag. it is not difficult to come up with much more effective ways of doing this than with an orange, if someone really wants to sleep in their car with autopilot engaged it's quite easy to accomplish.

 

[bpjod]

I drive Hwy 2 all the time and AP does great on it. If it weren't for AP nag I'm quite certain I could drive from Edmonton to Calgary without ever touching the wheel, unless there's a construction zone where I must instruct the car to change lanes (and technically that's simply touching the turn signal stalk). However, in this case you'd have to make the conscious decision to both have a device to defeat the AP nag and also to recline the seat to have a nap. This is completely flaunting Tesla's design and user agreement for AP. If the article is presenting the truth, then I have no sympathy for this driver and he deserves any punishment coming his way.

 

[webbah]

Or they were using one of these. Ankle or wrist weights also work.

https://www.autopilotbuddy.com/

 

[canadianeh]

Or they were using one of these. Ankle or wrist weights also work.

https://www.autopilotbuddy.com/

I can't believe there's a product for that, but maybe I can.

Honest question, is autopilot different from other manufacturers features of like lane assist and adaptive cruise? Is it or no? I was telling a friend about autopilot which I think is great, and he said his Q5 can do all the same stuff (steer, speed up, slow down, etc)

 

[Webeevdrivers]

I can't believe there's a product for that, but maybe I can.

Honest question, is autopilot different from other manufacturers features of like lane assist and adaptive cruise? Is it or no? I was telling a friend about autopilot which I think is great, and he said his Q5 can do all the same stuff (steer, speed up, slow down, etc)

So can a Leaf.

 

[webbah]

I can't believe there's a product for that, but maybe I can.

Honest question, is autopilot different from other manufacturers features of like lane assist and adaptive cruise? Is it or no? I was telling a friend about autopilot which I think is great, and he said his Q5 can do all the same stuff (steer, speed up, slow down, etc)

I don't know enough about the specifics of the Q5, but traffic aware cruise control is not the same as autopilot. I doubt his Q5 can navigate exits from highways using the navigation on autopilot or has cameras to read speed signs and adjust accordingly. Likely just has a set cruise speed and lidar to adjust for traffic speeds and cars in front and behind.

 

[richyrich]

I don't know enough about the specifics of the Q5, but traffic aware cruise control is not the same as autopilot. I doubt his Q5 can navigate exits from highways using the navigation on autopilot or has cameras to read speed signs and adjust accordingly. Likely just has a set cruise speed and lidar to adjust for traffic speeds and cars in front and behind.

Audi calls it "Traffic Jam Assist" and it will basically keep you centred in one lane and slow down/speed up for traffic. Lane changes are manual and yes, no Nav-on-Autopilot type of functionality, really just lane-keep and TACC. Same nags!

Decent (if long) video here:

 

[ChrisOtt]

My Audi SQ5 has “Traffic Jam Assist" as well as “active lane assist”. You can set the lane assist to centring so the car doesn’t bounce on the lines. It will nag/disengage every 30 seconds if it does not feel pressure. On long trips when I’m holding the wheel with less pressure (straight roads) it will ding loudly and wake up everyone in the car.

I leave the lane centering on by default so turns take less effort, but once in a while the system will try to do a harsh adjustment which would put me outside a lane so I have to be ready to take over and override. (I’m surprised we have not heard of Audi’s running off the road or lane assist related accidents).

Traffic jam assist is a joke, it’s fine until the jam happens and then the car brakes as if emergency braking is being turned on. Very harsh stop, makes me look like a fool, so it’s never engaged. I’m the guy in stop and go traffic just slamming the brakes down hard and then moving forward aggressively every 20 seconds. Might be because the SQ5 has larger brake pads and quick acceleration — but no excuse.

My car also reads traffic signs and will break when I’m speeding into a lower speed zone, but that also mis-reads signs from on-ramps and also makes me look like a fool.

I paid for these features, and envy a Tesla. So that should give you an idea...never gonna get updates, will return this lease the same behaviour as I picked it up.

 

[webbah]

My SQ5 has “Traffic Jam Assist" as well as “active lane assist”. You can set the lane assist to centring so the car doesn’t bounce on the lines. It will nag/disengage every 30 seconds if it does not feel pressure.

I would rate them about 3/10, as such I leave the lane centering on so turns take less effort, but once in a while the system will try to do a harsh adjustment which would put me outside a lane so I have to be ready to take over and override.

Traffic jam assist is a joke, it’s fine until the jam happens and then the car brakes as if emergency braking is being turned on. Very harsh stop, makes me look like a fool, so it’s never engaged.

My car also reads traffic signs and will break when I’m speeding into a lower speed zone, but that also mis-reads signs from on-ramps and also makes me look like a fool.

I paid for these features, and envy a Tesla. So that should give you an idea...never gonna get updates, will rerun this car the same way and someone else can enjoy the “features”.

If only Tesla could have the same fit and finish as Audi including noise isolation. I had Audi's for years. RS4, R8, etc. Loved them dearly but once I went Tesla I could never go back.

 

[banned-66611]

The more worrying part of this is that the car was doing 150 kph (93 MPH). Isn't it supposed to be limited to the speed limit +5 MPH?

 

[Webeevdrivers]

The more worrying part of this is that the car was doing 150 kph (93 MPH). Isn't it supposed to be limited to the speed limit +5 MPH?

Nope. Not on a divided highway.

 

[banned-66611]

Nope. Not on a divided highway.

Are they just trying to get people killed? That's crazy.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Are they just trying to get people killed? That's crazy.

yep. Can’t fix stupid.

 

[MexiCanuck]

yep. Can’t fix stupid.

“Can’t fix stupid”?

Do they not have an education system where you live?

 

[MarcoRP]

“Can’t fix stupid”?

Do they not have an education system where you live?

Are you shitting me?? Have you never heard of a bad driver or a drunken teenager at the wheel of a crashed car? School doesn’t teach you about peer pressure and that type of *sugar*. Come on

 

[Webeevdrivers]

“Can’t fix stupid”?

Do they not have an education system where you live?

Yes. You still can’t fix stupid.