Tesla dashcam footage showing autopilot swerve to avoid collision divides opinion on what was the right move
A Tesla driver was cruising on Autopilot at 75 mph when their electric vehicle reacted to a potential collision before they could intervene.
In response to the near miss, the driver took to the Reddit community for advice on whether the Tesla's response was appropriate.
Posting their dashcam footage on r/TeslaCam, the video shows the Tesla drive in the middle lane of the highway, until a Jeep driver dangerously merges onto his lane from the right.
In response, the Tesla vehicle swerves quite abruptly on the left lane before the driver could regain control.
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The caption read: 'I wonder what would AP have done if there was a car on my left lane?'
As the Reddit post has gained attention, opinions are divided on whether the Autopilot's swerve was a necessary move or a cause for concern.
Some comments are claiming that the Autopilot swerve was a total overreaction, almost costing the driver's life, with one reading: 'Seems like a dramatic lane change vs what a normal person would do imo'.
In comparison to a human taking control of the wheel, another comment wrote: 'My thoughts exactly. A competent driver that was paying attention would have seen that coming and would have been less aggressive.'
Another added: 'Bro, your autopilot almost got you into a "miss and run" accident. It didn't save you, it almost ruined you.'
Meanwhile, others claim that Tesla's Autopilot worked as intended. One responder wrote: 'The Tesla knew it had all that room to manoeuvre, and I bet it will take up more room during evasive actions if it safely can than less, given higher speeds.'
Furthermore, other Redditors are criticising Tesla's technology, commenting: 'I’ve seen many videos of Teslas doing this, and they ALL look this dramatic. I don’t understand how Tesla thinks this is ok?'
According to one report, Tesla's Autopilot feature generally doesn’t allow sudden side movements, but it’s possible that Tesla’s side collision avoidance system may have kicked in to avoid a potential crash.
There's plenty of documented cases of the billion-dollar tech company's Autopilot feature not working as well as intended or pulling some questionable manoeuvres.
In one tragic case, the Autopilot mode on a man's Tesla Model 3 cost him his life when it 'veered sharply off the road at 65 mph.'
Company data retrieved from Tesla showed that requirements relating to the 'safe operation of vehicles with assistive driving technology' had not been adequately met, despite Elon Musk's confidence in the technology of the electric vehicles.
Additionally, a former Tesla employee has previously come forward raising his concerns about the readiness of the self-driving hardware and software.