Tesla Autopilot tried to kill me!

I am the proud owner of a 2015 Tesla SP90D, purchased with all available options. It is the best car I have ever owned and I love it dearly. I also own a large chunk of Tesla stock. Today my car received the anticipated version 7 software update and I was anxious to try out Autopilot near my home. After several seconds of successful hands-free driving, all hell broke loose. My car was tracking the car in front of me to successfully steer, but I was going closer to the speed limit and that car eventually drifted far ahead of me. Shortly after that, another car was coming in my car's direction from the opposite side of the road. I can only guess at what happened next. My car suddenly veered to the left, crossing the double-yellow road divider line right into its path. Had I not reacted quickly to jerk the steering wheel in the opposite direction, I might have clipped it. I post this in the hopes that it will prevent any losses to anyone using Autopilot in similar circumstances and in the sincere hope that Tesla can address the issue as soon as possible if the software can somehow be improved in detecting both oncoming vehicles and cross-traffic lane dividers to avoid steering into oncoming traffic.

Sometimes, I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear
And I can't help but ask myself how much I'll let the fear
Take the wheel and steer
It's driven me before
And it seems to have a vague, haunting mass appeal
But lately I am beginning to find
That I should be the one behind the wheel

(Incubus)

There's no hiding for me
I'm forced to deal with what I feel
There is no distraction to mask what is real
I could pull the steering wheel

(Twenty-One Pilots)

You can't go on
Thinking nothing's wrong
Who's gonna drive you home tonight?

(The Cars)

To use this video in a commercial player or in broadcasts, please email me for permission via YouTube.

ADDENDUM 10.23.2015

Several media reports have misunderstood my claim that I "ignored the car's warnings to grab the wheel." My statement was referring to the Autosteer software release notes, not the dashboard warning system. The release notes recommend you keep your hands on the wheel at all times, which completely defeats the entire purpose of the Autosteer feature. Not even Tesla CEO Elon Musk leaves his hands on the wheel when demoing Autosteer to the press. I never ignored any dashboard warnings to take control of the car. As soon as Autosteer failed and an audible warning occurred, I took control of the vehicle immediately. The time that passed between the warning I received and my taking control was less than 1 second. The car had started veering left BEFORE any warning was received. You can also see this occur at the beginning of the video. The car veers left OVER THE DOUBLE YELLOW LINE while Autosteer remains functioning with no warnings at all. I have been contacted by a Tesla Autopilot engineer and have submitted all information requested so he could analyze the vehicle logs. It was only after Tesla deleted my post about this incident on their Forums discussion section of their website that I agreed to let Storyful distribute the video to other media outlets, not as an act of spite but as a way to make sure a conversation about this important issue is continued.

[Riko]

"Hey, I was using alpha built of autopilot/autosteer feature while ignoring warnings. I also used this feature in the enviroment not suited for this feature. Look at me ignoring terms of use and warnings, I almost died."....

[RockTreeStar]

UPDATE: While using AutoPilot today, my Model S spotted a Tesla Roadster, followed it, and tried to mate with it.

[Ergzay]

The car did what it was supposed to. It disengaged autopilot. It never tried to follow the other car. Watch your own video. The instant it starts beeping at you the autosteer icon disappeared.

[tomasmalin]

The title should be "I tried to kill oncoming driver with my Tesla."

[Hoooman]

*But..autopilot is supposed to be for highway use only! Why you do this? :(*

[roka]

It's people like you who will prevent this technology from advancing. Thanks for that.

[RockTreeStar]

DISCLAIMER: The title of this video is metaphorical and in no way intended to imply attempted vehicular manslaughter by Tesla Motors, Inc. Similarly, my other video "Baby Bears Love Motorcycles" should not be assumed to imply that adolescent brown bears feel any degree of affection toward two-wheel vehicles.

[matthewdolezal]

You conducted a beta test outside of the recommended parameters; thank you for the data.

[briansonof]

Wow, this guy is a damned fool for explicitly violating every warning that was given.

[chashulme]

Tesla made clear that the auto steer beta is for highway use. It's not at this point intended for winding roads with stop lights and/or signs. And it certainly is not for use on NON-DIVIDED ROADS, which is what you did. Think about it, autosteer is meant to follow the car ahead. What would happen if you drove on a non-divided road, and traffic is coming right at you, with no follow vehicle ahead? ... I think you saw what might happen in that situation... :-(

[thomashorn]

Autopilot is only for highway driving. You look to be on some back country road. You have no one to blame but yourself.

[Bradyjr]

Autosteer disengaged almost a second before you took control and during that time you were messing with the camera instead of taking over like it asked you to. User error.

[RockTreeStar]

If it's any consolation to all the haters out there against my idiot-testing for bugs in mission-critical beta software, when I got home my garage refused to open the pod bay doors.

[Fatguineapig]

Your title is irresponsibly provocative and you should change it. I would suggest "I knowingly disregarded everything Tesla and the car told me about using the auto-steer function and proved them right!"

Here's another video idea...Tesla sold you a car that does 0-60 in less than 3 seconds, but every time you try the car crashes into the car in front of you...WTF Tesla?

[Damieboo]

Regardless of whether he was using the autopilot function in a way not yet supported (on populated back roads vs highways with space between cars), I still don't understand why the car suddenly veered left. The autopilot disabled itself and beeped at him to grab the wheel, yes. But wouldn't the car continue going straight? Letting go of the steering wheel doesn't suddenly make the car do sharp turns. And the road didn't look uneven where he was driving.

[bjorno]

"Had I not reacted quickly to jerk the steering wheel in the opposite direction, a devastating head-on collision would have occurred."

The video you posted proves this statement to be an utter fabrication. You clearly grabbed the wheel AFTER the SUV was already past you.

Also, when you use a system like this outside of it's intended purpose, you should expect things like this to happen.

[maxcolizzo]

If you look at the instrument panel you'll notice that it turns autosteer off and says "Autosteer Unavailable for the rest of this drive" and the warning tone was telling him to get his hands on the wheel, which he should have had there anyway

[LutzHerting]

Holy shit, there it is: The absolute evidence that self-driving cars won't work! All you have to do is find the worst possible road, then do exactly what the manufacturer tells you not to do, then ignore all audible AND visible warnings from the car, then keep doing it, while the car is already having recognizable problems and then yank the wheel in a way to sudden movement. If that's not evidence, what is???

[hubertwalter]

If its restriced to Highways it should be limited by GPS location etc. All the technology is there. If they do not block the Autopilot on rural roads and similar a serious crash is just a matter of time...

[Tupcek]

1. not using it on highway (autopilot is intended on highways, otherwise at your own risk)
2. not enough attention on the road (at the start of the autopilot it tells you to ALWAYS pay attention), as seen on slow reaction to "take over immediately"
3. not reacting on prompt to keep your hands on the wheel (it knew it can disengage any time and you ignored it)
4. in this risky situation described above, to have an attention on getting good video is like if you wanted to record your crash.