A Tesla driver in Parker, Colorado, was pulled over for speeding and insisted that Autopilot was driving, not him.
The driver was clocked at 64 mph (103 km/h) in a 45 mph (72 km/h) zone.
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Body-camera footage released by the Parker Police Department shows the officer approaching the vehicle.
“I wasn’t driving,” the driver said. “That’s assisted driving.
Autopilot, sir.”
The officer repeatedly asked for the man’s license and made it clear that being in the driver’s seat means being responsible for the vehicle.
“You can blame the car all you want,” the officer said. “You’re in charge.”
Tesla’s Autopilot is a Level 2 driver-assistance system, as is Full Self-Driving (Supervised).
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These systems can assist with steering, throttle, and braking, but they still require a licensed, attentive human driver ready to take control at any moment.
The Seat Says Otherwise
The driver argued that he was merely sitting in the vehicle while the car operated itself.
He asked how a judge could determine that he was driving.
The officer’s response was blunt: “You were driving.”
Police say the man received a speeding citation.
He also demanded a supervisor, accused the officer of being rude, and claimed to have a witness and recordings of the encounter.
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He did all of this from directly behind the steering wheel.
