Did Tesla’s driverless Autopilot system just save a man’s life?
Tesla’s Autopilot has been in the news for all the wrong reasons as of late, but now it looks like Elon Musk’s driverless system has done something amazing. According to reports from America, Tesla’s Autopilot has basically saved a man’s life.
According to KY3 News, Tesla Autopilot played a huge role in getting 37-year-old Joshua Neally to hospital after he began to experience severe chest pains. “It was the most excruciating pain I’ve ever had,” Neally told local KY3 News. “It was kinda getting scary. I called my wife and just said ‘something’s wrong’.”
Although the Autopilot system didn’t take Neally all the way to the hospital, it was in control for the majority of the journey – and it’s just as well. When Neally got to the ER, doctors were able to find a potentially fatal obstruction of a blood vessel in his lungs, usually known as a pulmonary embolism. Joshua Neally is lucky to be alive right now.
So did Tesla Autopilot really save someone’s life?
In a way, it did. Tesla’s Autopilot is designed to make driving less stressful and keep the car in check, and that’s exactly what the driver needed in this case. While Neally could technically drive on the freeway, his piercing chest pain meant that he wouldn’t have been able to control the car in a consistent manner – and that’s where Tesla’s Autopilot stepped in. That meant all Neally had to do was hold the steering wheel when needed.
“If something like that happens where I become unconscious or incapacitated while I’m driving,” he said, “I’m not going to cross over the Interstate and slam into somebody or slam into one of the big rock walls.”
Without Autopilot, it’s highly likely Neally would have crashed – or not attempted to make the journey at all.
The debate continues
The news follows a few high-profile crashes involving Tesla’s driverless technology, and shows the plus side of having autonomous technology in our cars in 2016. Although Tesla has so far declined to comment, this story is exactly the sort of positive news it could do with right now.
