Tesla's autopilot feature has led to some Model S owners doing stupid things with their cars for YouTube videos. While Tesla still considers its self-driving car features "beta," the company is showing them off in its own YouTube video. There's no amateur footage involved with Tesla's own promo. In fact, if Tesla ever made a Super Bowl ad, this would be it.
No drivers letting go of the wheel here
If you're not familiar with what Tesla's autopilot option is capable of, then this is a great overview. It starts with the Summon feature that lets you turn the car on, from your smartphone, and have it pull out of your garage automatically. Tesla focuses on its Autosteer and Auto Lane Change features for most of the video, but it's careful not to show drivers letting go of the wheel.
Tesla ends its elegant demonstration with the Autopark feature, which continuously scans for available parking around the car and then parallel parks for you on command. It's the only time we see a driver, understandably, letting go of the wheel. It's clear that autopilot features are an important selling point for Tesla. The company is now working to refine autopilot with "some additional constraints" around when the feature can be enabled in order to "minimize the possibility of people doing crazy things with it," according to CEO Elon Musk.
Tesla Autopilot: Letting your Tesla drive itself is a bad idea
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