A Tesla driver in California learned the hard way last week not to put too much faith in the company’s Autopilot system after the tech drove their car directly on to a train track, mistaking it for the road.
The incident happened in Woodland, California, a small city 15 miles outside of Sacramento. In a Facebook post, the Woodland Police Department warned Tesla drivers to stay “vigilant while using Tesla’s Autopilot feature.”
There have been over 200 crashes and 29 deaths involving Tesla’s Autopilot, yet Tesla owners keep using it. Two months also, a Tesla in Ohio using the supposedly more advanced Full Self Driving got way too close to a speeding train before the driver regained controland crashed into the railroad crossing arm. That driver said he’d prevented a similar crash earlier in the year.
Whether you are using Autopilot or Full-Self Driving in your Tesla, be aware that both softwares are stuck at Level 2 autonomy at the moment. Level 2 means both Autopilot and FSD require an attentive driver at the helm and both hands on the wheel ready to take over should things go awry.