Tesla's Autopilot Helps Save a Life
In the last few weeks, we talked about the accident in which a Tesla owner was killed when its car collided at a high speed with a tractor trailer. The Autopilot (as well as the owner’s lack of attention) was blamed. However, this technology can be used in a reasonable way to help people. Here is a good example of this.
Last month, a 37 year-old lawyer was driving to work, which is usually a 45-minute trip. He was behind the wheel of his newly-acquired Tesla Model X. However, a few kilometres away from his office, he started experiencing chest pains. As he puts it, it was like he had steel poles driven through its heart.
He wisely had to head to the hospital, but he was in no shape to go there on his own. Fully trusting its car’s semi-autonomous driving system, he let the Autopilot drive the Model X through the 32 kilometres of highway between him and its destination. The vehicle performed admirably well, only needing driver inputs to get off the highway and into the emergency ward.
There, he was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. While the man admits that the most sensible decision would have been to stop on the side of the road and call 911, he’s really glad that its SUV was able to bring him to the hospital.
