A Tesla driver was thankful their car allegedly prevented "a serious crash," according to a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Guri C (@gurichattha), who identifies himself as an FSD Beta driver in Canada in his X profile,
said that while he was stopped at a red light, his Model Y did not accelerate when the light turned green. It didn't move much when he engaged the pedal, either.
The car, which Guri said was in full self-driving (FSD) mode, perhaps detected the threat of a vehicle that seemingly ran a red light on a cross street, missing hitting him and his son by an uncomfortably close margin.
Was on FSD and my @Tesla Model Y wouldn't go on green. Pressed the accelerator and it would barely move, finally it just freaked out and slammed the brakes. AEB saved us from a serious crash. Thanks @elonmusk. @WhamBaamX @DriveTeslaca @Teslaconomics @WholeMarsBlog @SawyerMerritt pic.twitter.com/4qTYSKD9QZ
— Guri C 🇨🇦 (@gurichattha) September 19, 2023
"This was possibly the wide angle front facing camera that saved me," he said, having touted the automatic emergency braking system. "It paid for itself with this one interaction," he added.
Full self-driving is a misnomer, as Tesla asks users of it and the autopilot feature to be fully attentive, have their hands on the wheel, and be ready to take over at any moment.
"While these features are designed to become more capable over time, the currently enabled features do not make the vehicle autonomous," the company has stated, as reported by Autoblog.
There have been thousands of reported problems with Tesla's FSD and Autopilot features, including at least 17 fatalities since 2019, according to The Washington Post.
TechCrunch reported in July that FSD Beta was used in about 400,000 Teslas. The cost to drivers has risen from $3,000 to $15,000 in the United States, where there is a $199 monthly subscription rate.
Tesla is the most sought-after car brand in the world, according to Autotrader. However, Axios reported earlier this year that the growing adoption of EVs in the U.S. has cut into the company's dominance.
"EVs accounted for 7% of new vehicle registrations in the U.S. in January, up from 4.1% in January 2022 — another sign that the EV transition is gaining momentum," Joann Muller wrote in an article for the publication.
EVs accounted for 5.6% of new car registrations in 2022, up from 3.1% in 2021 and 1.8% in 2020. Axios noted that was "still way behind China and Europe." Less than 1% of the 279 million vehicles in the U.S. are electric.
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