Something rather interesting happened last week in San Francisco. On Friday, a man was passed out drunk in his Tesla Model S while driving across the Bay Bridge, according to a report from SFGATE. The man is in bumper to bumper traffic and passed out drunk. That’s when other drivers took notice of the man’s situation and called police for help.
After a short period of time, officer from California Highway Patrol (CHP) showed up to have a look at the station and see what’s going on. This is where things get even more bizarre and rather interesting. When the man was woken up, the Tesla owner tried to talk his way out and tell the officers that everything was okay because his car was “on autopilot.”
The man’s blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, mind you. Unsurprisingly, he was attracted on the spot with charges on drunk driving, and his excuse for Tesla’s Autopilot didn’t stand with the officers. The official CHP Twitter account had a somewhat comical take on the situation, and post an interesting tweet about it on Twitter:
When u pass out behind the wheel on the Bay Bridge with more than 2x legal alcohol BAC limit and are found by a CHP Motor. Driver explained Tesla had been set on autopilot. He was arrested and charged with suspicion of DUI. Car towed (no it didn’t drive itself to the tow yard). pic.twitter.com/4NSRlOBRBL
— CHP San Francisco (@CHPSanFrancisco) January 19, 2018
It’s worth mentioning that Tesla’s Autopilot will not simply take passed out or inattentive drivers on a long journey. Tesla dealt with some abuse on this feature a while back where a man decided to sit in the backseat while Autopilot was engaged. In recent years, Tesla rolled out an update whereby drivers must touch the steering wheel at least once every two minutes for Autopilot to remain active. If the steering wheel is not touched in that time, the car will simply slow down and eventually come to a halt on its own.
