Remember that one time when notoriously reckless YouTuber Alex Choi nearly killed a biker while trying to show off on a public road? Well, he has outdone himself with his latest boneheaded and definitely illegal stunt of abusing Tesla’s Autopilot, which he then filmed and posted to his social media channels.
Choi, the new owner of a Tesla Model 3 Performance, recorded himself traveling in the back of the Tesla while it operated on “Autopilot.” Autopilot is a highly automated series of driving assists which can operate some of a Tesla’s functions on its own, such as steering and throttle input, though it falls short of true autonomy.
According to Tesla, its vehicles are incapable of driving themselves and require oversight and input from human operators to travel safely. Additionally, a lengthy record of crashes involving Autopilot—multiple of which have been fatal—have demonstrated that the technology isn’t ready to operate without the oversight that Tesla (but not Elon Musk) demands of its customers: hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. Choi violated both of these mandates when he turned on Autopilot and clambered into the Model 3’s back seat for some social media showboating, as the video below shows.
Make no mistake; Choi’s disregard for his own or others’ safety violates not just Tesla’s instructions on how to use Autopilot, but also multiple traffic laws. With how hard Choi is working to prove himself an incompetent driver, law enforcement should take a leaf out of Britain’s book and take away his license for flagrant abuse of Autopilot.