The main fear regarding self-driving cars is that, if they fail to do their job correctly, they’ll wind up causing some nasty road accidents. While this anxiety has thus far been unfounded, with the likes of Google reporting an almost spotless track record with its autonomous vehicles, there’s still the persistent worry that someday, one of these cars will mess up and cause a tragedy. But today is not that day, with a Tesla Model S driver showcasing how his own vehicle may have saved his life with its self-driving autopilot mode.
Joshua Brown was driving his Model S when a truck swerved into his lane. By Brown’s own admission he wasn’t paying attention to that side of his vehicle, though the car’s autopilot mode automatically kicked into gear, swerving out of the way to avoid the vehicle and ensuring that there was no collision.
Brown wrote: “I was driving down the interstate and you can see the boom lift truck in question on the left side of the screen on a joining interstate road. Once the roads merged, the truck tried to get to the exit ramp on the right and never saw my Tesla. I actually wasn’t watching that direction and Tessy (the name of my car) was on duty with autopilot engaged. I became aware of the danger when Tessy alerted me with the “immediately take over” warning chime and the car swerving to the right to avoid the side collision.”
He continued: “It was a mistake on the other driver’s part. He did not even know I was there until I honked my horn. There was a group of women in the black sedan to my left and they went nuts about the guy and what he did (all kinds of gesturing in their car). Once I was beside the truck as it slowed down on the ramp, the guy gestured a “sorry!” I gave him, “it’s okay” wave.”
Watch the video below:
Elon Musk was suitably impressed with his vehicle’s swift reaction times, posting the following tweet:
Owner video of Autopilot steering to avoid collision with a truckhttps://t.co/FZUAXSjlR7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 17, 2016
While the Model S isn’t fully autonomous, with autopilot mode still requiring a driver to be behind the steering wheel at all times, this video should at least serve to disprove naysayers who believe that self-driving vehicles will cause more damage on the roads rather than adding an extra layer of safety.
