Tesla autopilot saves driver from collision, Elon Musk approves

Bravo, Autopilot!
 By 
Stan Schroeder
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Tesla's Autopilot feature is often mentioned in the context of the vehicle driving itself, but it's actually much more of an assistance for the driver -- and in certain situations, it can save you from an imminent crash.

That's what happened to Model S driver Joshua Brown, whose car automatically moved out of the way of a truck that nearly collided with the Tesla. 


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Brown posted a YouTube video of the incident and described it. 

"I was driving down the interstate and you can see the boom lift truck in question on the left side of the screen on a joining interstate road. Once the roads merged, the truck tried to get to the exit ramp on the right and never saw my Tesla. I actually wasn't watching that direction and Tessy (the name of my car) was on duty with autopilot engaged. I became aware of the danger when Tessy alerted me with the 'immediately take over' warning chime and the car swerving to the right to avoid the side collision," he wrote. 

The video did not escape the attention of Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk, who shared it on Twitter on Monday. 

Ever the prolific tweeter, Musk recently focused on SpaceX's successful drone ship landing. We'd be surprised, though, if he doesn't soon reveal the current number of Tesla Model 3 pre-orders, which is now likely very near (or even past) 400,000. 

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.


Stan Schroeder
Stan Schroeder
Senior Editor

Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.

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