It’s been less than a month since Tesla began rolling out its Autopilot feature to Model S cars, but there has already been some controversy surrounding the software update. Other than a few minor (but worrisome) hiccups, the software itself has been garnering positive attention, but drivers haven’t quite shown the restraint Tesla was hoping they would.
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In an earnings call this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was asked a question about how many accidents might have been prevented by Autopilot. He told analysts that the company is aware of many instance where Autopilot might have prevented an accident, but none where Autopilot actually caused an accident.
But before moving on, Musk wanted to clarify that while he and his company are excited to see dashcam videos of Autopilot doing its jobs, they are also aware that there are drivers who aren’t heeding all of the rules.
“There’s been some fairly crazy videos on YouTube,” said Musk. “[…] this is not good. And we will be putting some additional constraints on when Autopilot can be activated to minimize the possibility of people doing crazy things with it.
In other words, it sounds like Musk is aware that some drivers are shaving in the front seat with Autopilot activated or climbing into the back of the car to see how reliable the software really is. Musk didn’t specify what these “additional constraints” would consist of, but keep in mind, this is software.
All Tesla has to do is send out an over-the-air update to keep drivers safe, both from themselves and from other drivers.
