Police charge Tesla driver who was allegedly doing 90 mph while asleep

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) mentioned it obtained a grievance of a automotive dashing close to Ponoka, Alberta at round four pm on July 9.

The car was touring at greater than 140 km (86.9 miles) per hour, with each entrance seats “utterly reclined and each occupants showing to be asleep,” the RCMP mentioned.

When a police officer approached the car with emergency lights the Tesla “mechanically started to speed up” to 150 km (93.2 m) per hour, the RCMP mentioned.

After pulling him over, the officer charged the driving force, who’s from British Columbia, with dashing and suspended his license for 24 hours. After additional investigation, police charged him with harmful driving and he’s summoned to look in court docket in December.

“Though producers of latest autos have in-built safeguards to forestall drivers from making the most of the brand new security programs in autos, these programs are simply that — supplemental security programs,” Superintendent Gary Graham of Alberta RCMP Site visitors Providers mentioned. “They aren’t self-driving programs, they nonetheless include the accountability of driving.”

Tesla didn’t reply to a request for remark from CNN.

The corporate has been adamant that drivers keep management of the car whereas the Autopilot system is in use, with a warning earlier than it’s first used saying drivers must keep their hands on the steering wheel and be prepared to take over at any time.

Whereas Autopilot can maintain the car in a freeway lane and keep distance from visitors, it’s not a completely autonomous system and nonetheless requires driver oversight.

However it’s not the primary time the automotive producer and Autopilot have been embroiled in a visitors incident — though the company has defended the technology.

Final yr, a 50-year-old man died in a automotive crash after switching from guide mode to Autopilot, based on the Nationwide Transportation Security Board (NTSB).

And in 2018, Apple worker Walter Huang died when his car veered off a highway to the left, accelerated and crashed before bursting into flames. The Autopilot function had been engaged for nearly 19 minutes, the NTSB discovered. His household introduced final yr they had been suing Tesla, claiming the function brought on his demise.

On the time, Tesla said that the only way the vehicle could have crashed is that if Huang had not “paid consideration” to the highway, “regardless of the automotive offering a number of warnings to take action.”

One other man, Joshua Brown, died in May 2016 when his Tesla crashed into a tractor-trailer in Florida whereas the software program was energetic.

CNN’s Jackie Wattles and Peter Valdes-Dapena contributed to this report.