A video of a Tesla proprietor utilizing the brand new Apple Vision Pro headset whereas utilizing the automobile’s assisted driving options, primarily letting the car drive itself, and purportedly getting arrested goes viral on social media and highlighting a doubtlessly new hazard on the street.
Revealed on Friday—the identical day the Vision Pro went on sale within the U.S.—the 25-second video seems to indicate 21-year-old Dante Lentini, who posted the video on his X account, typing and scrolling with the $3,500 headset. For a portion of the video, Lentini’s palms should not on the wheel, which is a requirement for all three of Tesla’s assisted driving features: Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot, and Full Self-Driving. (Regardless of the title, none of Tesla’s assisted driving options make its automobiles totally autonomous).
The video goes on to indicate Lentini in a stopped automobile with the police subsequent to him. In a touch upon X, Lentini confirms that the individual within the video is him and that he was arrested. As of Monday morning, Lentini’s video had greater than 24 million views on X, the platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Gizmodo reached out to Lentini and Tesla on Monday morning for remark however didn’t instantly hear again. Tesla famously dissolved its PR department again in 2020, so we’re not holding our breath for a response.
Some customers on social media accused Lentini, who says on LinkedIn that he’s a product manager on the software program growth startup Hyper, of staging the video for clicks and views, though whether or not he did so will not be instantly clear. In response to feedback lamenting the stupidity of driving whereas carrying the headset, Lentini responded: “my dangerous, had a gathering.”
Apple specifically warns users in opposition to utilizing the Imaginative and prescient Professional whereas driving in its consumer information. The corporate didn’t reply to a request for remark.
“At all times stay conscious of your surroundings and physique posture throughout use. Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional is designed to be used in managed areas which might be secure, on a stage floor,” the corporate notes. “By no means use Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional whereas working a shifting car, bicycle, heavy equipment, or in another conditions requiring consideration to security.”
Tesla’s driver assisted options, particularly Autopilot, have resulted in federal scrutiny on the carmaker lately. In 2021, the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration opened a formal probe into the corporate over crashes involving Tesla’s driver assisted options—accidents which have left greater than a dozen folks lifeless.
And final July, the security regulator asked Tesla for more information on a software program replace that permits drivers to make use of Autopilot for prolonged intervals of time with out placing their palms on the wheel.
“The ensuing rest of controls designed to make sure that the driving force stay engaged within the dynamic driving process may result in larger driver inattention and failure of the driving force to correctly supervise Autopilot,” the regulator’s chief counsel John Donaldson said in a letter at the moment.