'Bizarre' Video Shows Tesla Driver Apparently Asleep On Mass Pike
NEWTON (CBS) – It was a frightening scene for one witness on the Mass Pike Sunday – a Tesla driver apparently asleep at the wheel. Video posted to Twitter seems to show the car on auto-pilot, without an alert person in the driver's seat.
"It was just so strange and baffling" said Dakota Randall, who shot the video while driving through Newton on the highway. "I thought I saw somebody asleep at the wheel, but I wasn't sure so I did a double-take. Sure enough there was somebody with his head right between his legs."
In the video, the driver is hunched over and seemingly fast asleep. A person in the passenger seat doesn't look to be awake either.
Randall said he tried to wake them up by honking his horn, but it didn't work.
"It was just so bizarre that I just had to get it on video, because it's so strange," he said. "They looked like they needed to go home and go to bed."
A spokeswoman for Tesla, which makes cars equipped with driver assistance, declined to comment on the video. Tesla tells drivers they are supposed to be alert at all times with both hands on the steering wheel.
Would Randall ever try riding in a car that's on auto-pilot?
"No. Especially in Boston, it's scary enough," he said.
Massachusetts State Police told WBZ-TV there's technically no law against falling asleep behind the wheel of a self-driving car.