One Tesla driver is lucky to be alive after his vehicle took control as he waited for a train to pass.
Joshua Brown of Plano, Texas said his car’s Full Self-Driving mode engaged while he sat waiting at a railroad crossing. Footage shared with local media shows his Tesla plowing through the fiberglass crossing arms, shattering his window as the train screamed by just feet away.
Brown admitted that he had zoned out while waiting for the train to pass — which is fair enough, if you’re a human. For an autonomous vehicle, it’s inexcusable.
“About the time I realized I was moving, the bar is right there, like right in front of me,” Brown said.
The Tesla’s rear camera captured the crossing as a Dallas Area Rapid Transit train blazed past, barely missing Brown by a few car lengths.
Texas Tesla driver narrowly avoids autopilot disaster
“I would like to say I wasn’t rattled, but it rattled me just a wee little bit, you know,” the driver said. “At the end of the day, if it’s my time to go, it’s my time to go — but the good Lord was looking out for me and I’m thankful I’m still here.”
Brown added that he’s not suing Tesla over the incident, and that the company maintains drivers are “supposed to be actively engaged when you’re driving.”
“I said, well, truthfully, I was actively engaged, or I would probably be dead,” Brown added. “I guarantee you, I will have my foot over the break at a — or just engage it — at a train crossing though. There will not be any more trusting it to stay there.”
He ironically shares his name with another Joshua Brown of Florida, who became the first known fatality involving a self-driving car in May of 2016. Notably, that Josh Brown was alleged to have been watching a “Harry Potter” movie at the time of the crash. All the same, it seems that after nearly ten years of development, Tesla’s self-driving efforts are still struggling to keep passengers safe — even when the safest thing to do is stay put.
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