Tesla
- Police in the Netherlands stopped a man who had fallen asleep while driving using the car’s autopilot system, they said on Instagram.
- Police said they had to wake him by blasting their sirens, because he did not respond to other signals from officers to slow down.
- He appeared to be under the influence of alcohol, police said.
- The incident comes two months after a Tesla driver in Florida had a fatal crash. Investigators said in a preliminary report that the driver in the crash was using the autopilot function.
Police in the Netherlands on Friday stopped a Tesla driver who fell asleep at the wheel while using the car’s autopilot function on a highway, the police unit said on Instagram. The 50-year-old man was under the influence of alcohol, the post said.
Officers said they started following his car near the city of Eemnes, about 23 miles from Amsterdam, because he was driving too closely to the vehicle in front of him.
The sleeping driver failed to respond to signals to pull over, according to the post. At one point he even overtook the police car as it slowed down to get off the highway.
"Eventually the man was woken with the help of the siren," the post said.
His driver’s license was suspended, according to police.
It is not the first time a Tesla driver has been found asleep at the wheel while using the car’s autopilot system. In December 2018, California police found a Tesla driver sleeping while driving at around 70 miles per hour on a highway near Silicon Valley, Wired reported.
Officers were unable to wake the man, so drove in front of his car, slowly braking to eventually bring the car to a stop.
Reuters / Kyle Grillot
The incident in the Netherlands comes two months after a Tesla driver died in a crash on a Florida highway. The man took his hands off the steering wheel for eight seconds before his car collided with a truck, according to an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
A preliminary report from investigators showed that the autopilot system was "active at the time of the crash."
The company has faced criticism that the marketing of its semiautonomous driving system as an "autopilot" could lull drivers into a false sense of security.
One customer, Shawn Dawson, is suing the car giant claiming it misled drivers about the feature’s safety, Wired reported. He crashed his Tesla into an empty vehicle while using autopilot.
Tesla has consistently emphasised that drivers should pay close attention to the road, even when using autopilot.
"Tesla has always been clear that Autopilot doesn’t make the car impervious to all accidents," it said in a statement to Wired when Dawson’s lawsuit was reported.
Business Insider contacted Tesla for comment on the incident in the Netherlands.
The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, has repeatedly said that Tesla will develop completely self-driving cars by 2020.
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Source: Business Insider – bchristofaro@businessinsider.com (Beatrice Christofaro)