More often than not, stories involving Tesla’s Autopilot feature tend to make the news when something goes awry. Whether it’s a Model S on Autopilot crashing into a stationary car or a Tesla on Autopilot almost careening into a highway divider, there’s no question that activating the feature still requires drivers to pay close attention to surrounding road conditions at all times.
All the same, Tesla’s Autopilot feature has improved considerably over the past few years. And truth be told, there are many instances where Tesla’s Autopilot feature works exactly as designed. The only thing is, we don’t often hear about the crashes Autopilot prevents, unless of course it happens to be caught on video.
With that said, a newly uploaded video to YouTube shows a Tesla on Autopilot automatically apply the brakes and avoid what was certain to be a rear-end collision. Notably, the video below was captured using Tesla’s Dashcam feature which records video via the car’s front-facing camera.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Tesla’s Autopilot managed to save the day. Just a few months ago, a Model 3 owner uploaded footage which showed Tesla’s Autopilot feature preventing what could easily have been a very serious crash, video of which can be seen below.
The truth is, Tesla’s Autopilot feature tends to get a lot of bad press because Elon Musk, in characteristic fashion, hyped up its capabilities early on. If we can put aside some of Musk’s sensational claims for a second, there’s no denying that Tesla has done a rather impressive job of bringing this somewhat futuristic technology into the mainstream.
As a final note, you may recall that Musk last year promised that a Tesla on Autopilot would drive itself from California to New York with no user interaction whatsoever before 2018. That obviously hasn’t come to pass and there’s no indication it will anytime soon.
