Police Unmoved by Elon Musk’s Tesla Drive Despite Controversy and Frightening Incident
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, unknowingly sparked controversy when he left the Tesla Engineering HQ in Palo Alto on Friday with his smartphone and a livestream. During a 45-minute drive around the city, Musk showcased the features of Tesla’s latest Full Self-Driving (FSD) update, FSD v12, inadvertently violating multiple laws. Here is a detailed account of everything that occurred during the eventful Musk live stream.
Tesla FSD demo: What went wrong?
At first, everything went well as Musk’s Tesla navigated roads, corners and roundabouts autonomously with relative ease, but that changed in the 19th minute when the vehicle almost jumped a red light and ran straight into a busy intersection, prompting Musk to intervene. . It was a scary moment!
“So this is our first intervention because the car should go straight,” Musk said in the video as he took control of the vehicle. “It was a controlled left turn with a green light for a left turn, but no green light to go straight. And so, we feed it a bunch of videos of controlled left turns, and then it works.”
Tesla FSD beta updates are released only to beta testers, not to the general public as they are still in the testing phase. V12 isn’t even available to beta testers yet.
About 27 minutes into the demo, Musk Googled Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s address and said he was going to drive home. This is not the first time that Musk has publicly announced that he will visit Zuckerberg’s home. About a few weeks ago, Tesla’s CEO suggested the same thing in preparation for their unlikely cage match.
Musk broke the rules
First, Musk violated Tesla’s self-imposed FSD rules. The company handbook says: “Keep your hands on the steering wheel (or steering wheel) at all times, pay attention to road conditions and surrounding traffic, and always be ready to take immediate action.” On the other hand, Musk was often seen in the video with only one hand on the wheel.
In addition, Musk also violated a city law that prohibits drivers from holding their phones behind the wheel. The initial penalty is a $20 fine, but it can result in a license suspension if the offense is repeated twice within three years.
Despite breaking the law, Musk will not be punished for the crime. The Verge reached out to the Palo Alto Police Department, who mentioned that since there were no police officers present to testify in court about the crime, they are not issuing fines.
What is Tesla FSD?
Full Self Driving, or FSD, is Tesla’s series of driver assistance features that provide an assisted driving experience and active control under supervision. While not fully autonomous, FSD aims to improve the Autopilot mode in vehicles with a fully autonomous driving experience in future Tesla vehicles.
Unlike other vehicles that use LiDAR and radar as part of the autonomous driving experience, the Tesla FSD uses in-vehicle cameras. Musk recently emphasized that the upcoming FSD v12 would be entirely powered by cameras and artificial intelligence.
