Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] recently launched a software update for its Model S enabling the car to drive autonomously in certain situations, such as along a multilane highway. Naively, Tesla trusted that Model S owners would use the system according to certain rules, such as keeping their hands on the steering wheel.
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Coming as no surprise, Tesla was wrong in its thinking as there are already several videos of Model S owners using the system with no hands on the wheel and on the wrong types of roads. Both instances occur in this video from YouTube user RockTreeStar, resulting in a near miss.
At present, there haven’t been any reported accidents involving a Model S being driven using the automaker's autonomous system, known as the Autopilot. Nevertheless, Tesla is planning to place some constraints on the system.
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“This is not good,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during a recent earnings call. “We'll put on some constraints on Autopilot to minimize people doing crazy things with it.”
Mercedes-Benz was the first automaker to offer an autonomous driving mode. The feature, called Steering Assist, first appeared on the 2014 S-Class and allows the car to drive autonomously on highways. However, unlike Tesla’s Autopilot, Steering Assist has a system to detect if a driver’s hands are on the wheel.
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