- A Tesla driver was pulled over for speeding through Parker, Colorado.
- He insisted Autopilot was driving, not him, and demanded a supervisor.
- Autopilot is a Level 2 aid that still needs an attentive human driver.
Tesla’s driver aids have been called several things over the years, among them impressive, dangerous, misleading, and even spooky. One thing they are not, though, is a legal substitute for the person sitting behind the wheel. A driver stopped in Parker, Colorado, apparently missed that memo and tried to make the case that his Tesla, not him, should be responsible for a speeding ticket. He didn’t hint at this idea. He demanded a supervisor over the argument.
Body-camera footage released by the Parker Police Department shows an officer pulling over the Tesla after clocking it at 64 mph (103 km/h) in a 45 mph (72 km/h) zone. The driver’s explanation arrived almost immediately. “I wasn’t driving,” he said. “That’s assisted driving. Autopilot, sir.”
Read: Tesla Model Y Rear-Ends SUV, Driver Blames Autopilot
The officer did not bite. He repeatedly asked for the man’s license and made the central point as clearly as possible: being in the driver’s seat means being responsible for the vehicle, regardless of whether Autopilot happens to be handling steering, throttle, or braking at that moment. “You can blame the car all you want,” the officer said. “You’re in charge.”
That might sound overly obvious, but it is worth repeating because Tesla’s branding has long left plenty of room for people to overestimate what the system can do. Autopilot is a Level 2 driver-assistance system. Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is too.
It can help with lane centering and adaptive cruise control, but it still requires a licensed, attentive human driver who is prepared to take control at any moment. It does not turn a Tesla into a self-driving car, and it certainly does not turn it into a driver with its own license, insurance policy, or court date.
The Seat Says Otherwise
The driver continued to argue that he had merely been sitting in the vehicle while the car operated itself. He asked how a judge could determine that he was driving. The officer’s response was again blunt: “You were driving.” Police say the man received a speeding citation. He also demanded a supervisor, accused the officer of being rude, and claimed to have a witness and recordings of the encounter. Again, he did all of this from directly behind the steering wheel.
