Apparently, after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) confirmed in September 2021 that the autopilot feature previously praised by Tesla was unsafe, Matt Watson, the car lover behind the YouTube channel Carve, could not find enough evidence.
Want to explore the limits of the infamous electric car, will YouTuber kill the Tesla cat? March 10 this year. In it, he tries to find out that a Tesla car left on the autopilot, as you have now guessed, could spot an unguarded cat in the middle of the road.
With only half a million views so far, the 12-minute video features two different vehicles – a Tesla Model 3 and a Volvo V90. Both have (known) automatic safety features that allow the driver to brake for obstacles if they do not pay attention. So host Watson tested them against other cars, pedestrians and many other animals.
“What I’m going to do is try to figure out exactly what Tesla’s automatic braking system is designed for,” he said while taking a professional off course designed to mimic the urban environment. “Will Tesla kill Elon? We’re going to find out.”
When YouTube runs Tesla and Volvo on another model 3 made of foam, both break just in time. It happened when I tried to drive straight into a cardboard cutout in Elon Musk.
Who would have thought that? Watson noted that although the cars passed those tests with high color, Tesla braked faster but the distance between the car and the obstacle was shorter.
Also, when braking, Volvo tightened his seat belt so that Watson’s head would not hit the seat, and Tesla did not do so by stabilizing his body.
After that, car lovers continue to experiment with a large kangaroo stuffed animal, which Tesla detects and successfully avoids. But when Watson stopped the small animal Stuffed Dog and Taxidermy Cat in the middle of the road, both cars failed to brake for him. In other words, yes, if you don’t pay attention to the road and decide to have too much confidence in your autopilot, your Tesla will probably drive too much.
Also, if it brakes automatically, pressing the accelerator will cause the system to crash, as Watson further showed by zooming in on Jeff Bezos’ cardboard cutouts. If you’re looking for the best self-driving car, it’s safe to say we haven’t found one yet – so please keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheels.
