See A Car Launched 20 Feet Into The Air In Freak Highway Accident, Tesla Autopilot Saves A Life
Dashcam video shows how a Tesla’s autopilot takes control and swerves that vehicle from the rogue tire and debris strewn across the highway.
A video of a violent car accident has gone viral on multiple social media platforms. It depicts a KIA traveling in the left lane when unexpectedly, a tire from a pickup truck detaches from that vehicle and strikes the KIA on its undercarriage, launching the KIA 20 feet in the air flipping the car and landing on its roof. The video was captured by a Tesla trailing behind the accident, and the video also shows how the Tesla’s autopilot takes control and swerves that vehicle out of the way of the rogue tire and debris that was strewn across the highway.
The video was captured on March 23rd on a southern Californian freeway. The accident occurred on the 118 freeway in Chatsworth, a Los Angeles, California suburb. Thankfully, it was confirmed that the driver of the KIA was able to walk away from the accident unharmed, even though the footage of the accident would lead you to believe that they might have been seriously injured due to the car’s high-flying acrobatics.
As the accident unfolds, it is remarkable to see the Tesla’s autopilot react to avoid the pickup truck’s tire aimed directly at the Tesla, which would have also resulted in the Tesla being involved in the accident. The Tesla’s owner, Anoop Khatra, posted the video of his dashcam footage on his Twitter account, where it has had 13.7 million views and 12,400 retweets. Local media also picked it up and featured the incident on their websites.
Tesla has been scrutinized recently in the press about its autopilot feature being the cause of fatalities on the road and not a reliable feature on the vehicle. However, to the contrary, this video is an example of when an unexpected event occurs on a roadway, Tesla’s autopilot sensors and programming can react in a split second. It helps the vehicle avoid imminent doom by breaking and moving out of the trajectory of that object.
In the video, the reaction time of the Tesla autopilot is much faster than the potential reaction time that could be executed by a human. Even if the driver had prior knowledge that an event would be unfolding in front of them. The driver would still be slower to respond to the tire barreling down the highway than the Tesla autopilot feature.
As disturbing as the video of the accident shows us, it is a relief to know that vehicle technology has advanced to the point where it can save human lives by assisting in avoiding potential road hazards that are unpredictable. This is evident in the footage posted by Khatra on Twitter which highlights this fact. One of society’s biggest fears is facing these types of unforeseen hazards while traveling in a vehicle. This type of scenario has resulted in many vehicular fatalities over the years.
Knowing that the Tesla autopilot is capable of reacting in such a manner will make me think twice when I purchase my next vehicle. That type of security is hard to overlook when regarding your personal safety while traveling. It certainly was an impressive maneuver and most certainly could be attributed to saving in this real-life scenario.
