TikTok Star Found Illegally Using Tesla Autopilot with Video Filmed by His Mother as Evidence

Urian B., Tech Times 20 January 2021, 10:01 pm

(Photo : Screenshot From Mr. Hub YouTube) Illegal TikTok Video Showed Young Man Sleeping While Driving with Tesla Autopilot

A certain TikTok star was found illegally using the Tesla Autopilot feature and even posted a video evidence of this dangerous stunt that was abusing the said feature. To make things worse, the young man's own mother was there to help him film the whole experience.

Tesla Autopilot feature

According to Electrek, the Tesla Autopilot is a particular term to embody the number of automated driver assist features that are inside Tesla vehicles. These particular features include traffic-aware cruise control and the active auto steering feature called the Autosteer. It is still sometimes confused with the whole self-driving system due to Tesla's supposed "Full Self-Driving" package. However, that's still a very different set of features.

Tesla still makes it very clear that the drivers still need to keep their own hands on the steering wheel and also be ready to control the vehicle at any given time with a notification feature that is activated. It is also illegal to misuse this particular feature. Tesla drivers have previously been charged with "dangerous driving" for intentionally sleeping at the wheel.

TikTok illegally misusing Tesla Autopilot posts evidence

Jonathan Cook, a particular person with over 1 million hits on the popular app TikTok recently posted a video of himself trying to fake a sleep inside the Tesla Model 3 set on Autopilot. He even went as far as going to the backseat while still driving at a certain significant speed on the highway.

Within most jurisdictions, this particular stunt would even amount to reckless or dangerous driving. This could be considered a criminal offense in some jurisdictions. If the police intentionally wanted to charge him, it is said to be fairly easy since he even filmed a certain "behind-the-scenes" of his particular TikTok video for YouTube. The video showed details regarding his dangerous use of the said Tesla Autopilot.

Illegal video on TikTok

Shown in the video, he then got around Tesla's own safeguards in order to prevent people from doing exactly that by putting a weight over the steering wheel in order to trick the said torque sensor. This had the Tesla Model 3 to keep driving while the seat belt was even locked behind his back in order for him to exit the seat while the said vehicle continued driving.

What made matters worse is that in the TikTok video, his mother even appears to be the one intentionally helping him film this particularly dangerous video. As to whether both of them were aware that what they were doing is illegal is still to be seen. However, Tesla is still pretty open about how the driver should still be behind the wheel when the vehicle is driving.

The video was uploaded to YouTube under the Mr. Hub channel and it shows just how the TikTok video was set up. This can also be incriminating evidence against the TikToker if legal matters pursue.