A Tesla driver claims that Autopilot tried to avoid a wheel flying off a car that crashed in front of the Tesla vehicle. The whole thing was caught on video.
TeslaCam is Tesla’s integrated dashcam system using its Autopilot cameras to record the vehicle’s surroundings in the event of an accident.
It has caught some wild situations on video over the years and even helped the police arrest criminals.
In some cases, it even helped showcase some of Tesla’s safety features, like the driver-assist features powered by Autopilot.
Now a new viral TeslaCam video claims to show Tesla Autopilot moving the vehicle in an attempt to avoid a rogue wheel that created a scary accident.
In the video, the Tesla driver was following a car that was propelled several feet into the air after driving into the detached wheel of a pickup truck in the next lane:
After sending the vehicle flying into the air, the wheel continued toward the Tesla vehicle, which can be seen swerving slightly to the right to avoid it.
The Tesla driver claims that it was the Autopilot system that automatically did the maneuver to avoid driving into the wheel.
Tesla has features powered by Autoiplot that are designed to either avoid crashes or reduce the impact of a collision, like Automatic Emergency Braking. However, there have been doubts about the system being able to avoid smaller objects on the road like in this situation.
It’s important to remember that Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving package only involve driver-assist features that always require the driver to be attentive and ready to take control at all times. They are not fully autonomous nor intended to be used without paying attention.
The driver of the Kia that hit the wheel was reportedly unharmed in the accident.