Tesla Autopilot Saves a collision

Tesla Autopilot saved several lives by avoiding a dangerous situation, recorded on Model 3 dashcam

Tesla Autopilot saves another day by reacting early to a lane changing pickup truck that created a dangerous situation — Tesla Model 3 owner shares footage of the incident recorded on the car’s dashcam and left repeater camera (videos below).

Tesla owner and active community member Marc Benton with his brother were on a long trip when this situation occurred, surely this is life-threatening while you’re driving at 80 mph on a highway, the act from the truck driver was stupid but Tesla’s safety system was alert.

Marc shared his feelings just after almost getting a new life in the following Twitter video:

Tesla vehicles with Autopilot Hardware 2+ have 8 cameras, a front radar, and 12 ultrasonic sensors that actively monitor the surroundings and the basic safety functions are active even if the owner has not bought the Enhanced Autopilot (EAP) software package. One forward camera is also used to record footage after last years major V9 firmware update.

Last year a Tesla Model X avoided a side collision on a highway when suddenly a semi-truck tried to cross into the right lane, the incident was also recorded on dash cam.

Let’s watch the first video recorded on the dashcam on how Tesla Autopilot saved an imminent collision (I’ve set the timestamp on 00:40 to save you wait time).

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Whoosh, that was a close call, although Marc explains that he was attentive but Tesla Autopilot had to take things into its own hands before the driver could take over, the pickup truck only became properly visible at 00:43 which looked like cruising at slow speeds on the left shoulder of the highway.

But within 2 seconds the pickup truck driver decided to change lanes and suddenly came in front of Marc’s Tesla Model 3 and Autopilot swerved to the right side on its own, this would have been a different story with human reflexes.

No doubt this saved 2 lives in the Tesla car and probably some more in the pickup truck, although Tesla Model 3 is the safest car on the planet, still not a pretty thought of being involved in an accident.

Marc also shared the footage recorded with the car’s left repeater camera, interesting to watch the incident from this angle as well, pretty close! Here’s what he stated in his video description:

As many of you know, my brother and I are traveling from Los Angeles to Nashville. We had a pretty good drive until a driver, out of the blue, decides to cross ALL lanes of traffic.

I was using EAP (Enhanced Auto Pilot / Autosteer). I had one hand relaxing on the bottom of the wheel until I saw a truck in the far left emergency lane. When I saw him start to move, I put both hands (at 10 and 2) on the wheel just to make sure I could take control.

Before I knew it, he started to cross all lanes of traffic and Autopilot swerved to the right, beeped very loud and flashed red on the screen for me to take over. It all happened very quickly.

I do know this, Autopilot veered to the right, I did not do it, It saw the truck and started to take action before I did. Once I swerved and was by the truck, I took over and the car handled AMAZING.

We were traveling about 80 mph and my brother was worried that we may skid or lose control. It did not slip at all and the roads were pretty wet.

So thank you to Tesla and your amazing products, this could have been a disaster!

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Follow us on Flipboard / Twitter  for constant Tesla / EV news.

Iqtidar Ali
[email protected]

Iqtidar Ali reports on the latest happenings at Tesla and Electric Vehicle forefront. With over 1 decade of experience in website development, he's our IT resource as well.


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1Comment
  • Jean-Pierre White
    Posted at 14:59h, 29 March Reply

    While AP reaction time may have been awesome. As a human I would have anticipated danger and been ready to brake or swerve once the truck began moving into the hammer lane.

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