Terrifying moment Tesla nearly blows past a stop sign into oncoming traffic during a test of its self-driving system in California
- Video showed the moment a Tesla nearly slammed into a vehicle after blowing through a stop sign in Santa Barbara, California
- The video was shared by the The Dawn Project, a group focused on banning Tesla’s self-driving feature over safety concerns
- In January, a Tesla utilizing the self-driving feature caused a massive pile-up on a San Francisco bridge, injuring nine people
This is the terrifying moment a self-driving Tesla in California nearly blew a stop sign and slammed into oncoming traffic.
The footage was taken Thursday by The Dawn Project founder Dan O’Dowd while he was in the car with Tesla inventor Ross Gerber in Santa Barbara.
The two were holding a meeting to discuss safety concerns with Tesla’s self-driving feature.
The video shows the Tesla Model S driving on a two-lane road, navigating windy roads and obstacles before nearly hitting a white SUV at an intersection.
‘I braked,’ Gerber said. ‘I wasn’t gonna wait and find out, because I saw the two cars going at each other, and I wasn’t gonna test that one.’
The incident comes months after a self-driving Tesla caused an eight-car pile-up on a Bay Area bridge, injuring nine people, including a two-year-old.
Shocking video shows the moment that a self-driving Tesla in Santa Barbara, California blew a stop sign and nearly slammed into another car on the road
In the one-minute video, the Tesla at one point also narrowly avoids a collision with a garbage truck backing out onto the narrow roadway.
The vehicle hesitates behind the truck before Gerber says he took over control.
‘I disengaged,’ Gerber says, adding that he chose to drive around a garbage truck.
The video continues with the Tesla winding down the two-lane, 35 miles per hour roadway before a stop sign comes into view.
The car does not appear to slow down while approaching the busy area and passes the stop sign as another car, an Audi SUV, travels through the intersection.
Gerber, realizing the car may not stop, once again disengages and slams his foot on the break before hitting the SUV, which appeared to honk at the Tesla.
‘There we go,’ Gerber says after disengaging.
‘That was you braking?’ O’Dowd asks as Gerber confirms.
Another passenger in the car can be heard saying that he doesn’t think he has the stomach to handle the test drives of the self-driving feature.
‘You’re not sure? You just survived,’ Gerber responds.
He goes on to add that drivers still need to be engaged in driving.
‘No, I told you, humans have to be engaged. It’s not like I’m gonna like smash into some car…Even if it would’ve stopped, I don’t care. That’s not the goal,’ Gerber said.
In the one-minute video, the Tesla at one point also narrowly avoids a collision with a garbage truck backing out onto the narrow roadway
The video continues with the Tesla winding down the two-lane, 35 miles per hour roadway before a stop sign comes into view. The car does not appear to slow down
Tesla has faced serious safety concerns in the past, including a major January pile-up resulting from the self-driving feature.
Highway surveillance footage shows a Tesla Model S vehicle in self-drive mode changing lanes and coming to an abrupt stop, causing an eight-vehicle crash.
Nine people, including a two-year-old child, were among the people injured in the pileup which blocked traffic on the Bay Bridge for over an hour.
Just hours before the crash, Tesla CEO Elon Musk had triumphantly announced that Tesla’s ‘full self-driving’ capability was available in North America, congratulating Tesla employees on a ‘major milestone.’
Highway footage from the San Francisco Bay Bridge shows a Tesla Model S vehicle changing lanes and coming to an abrupt stop causing an eight-vehicle crash in January
Nine people, including a two-year-old child, were among the people injured in the pileup which blocked traffic on the bridge for over an hour
In January, Tesla CEO Elon Musk (pictured) triumphantly announced that Tesla’s ‘full self-driving’ capability was available in North America
The most common complaint among Tesla users with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is the car’s inability to stop at intersections
More recently, in May, a Twitter user posted a video of their Tesla driving through a crosswalk with a pedestrian despite recognizing the person in its view finder.
The most common complaint among Tesla users with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is the car’s inability to stop at intersections.
In February, the NHTSA’s concerns caused a recall of over 350,000 vehicles.
