It is often said that driverless cars are the future. A curious accident with no injuries now shows that the technology has its pitfalls.
Theoretically it sounds like an innovative function – in practice, however, it does not always turn out to be quite suitable: in the American capital Washington DC there is a driverless one Tesla crashed into a parked private plane while on autopilot.
Background of the crash, which witnesses documented on video and on the platform Reddit widespread, is therefore apparently the Tesla special function Smart Summon. This allows the owners of the car, her Auto via the Tesla app on the smartphone.
According to Tesla, Smart Summon is actually intended for short distances, for example to summon the car in a parking lot. According to the manufacturer, the function is still in the beta version, so it is not yet fully developed.
Jet reportedly costs $3.5 million
Anyone who watches the said video must also get this impression. Calm and undeterred, the car drove across the airfield without a driver until it finally crashed into the rear of the jet at walking speed and pushed it a little further in front of it. Apparently its owner had wanted to summon it from a far greater distance, but had not considered the obstacles in the way.
According to the user who uploaded the video, the mini-accident occurred at a Cirrus aircraft show. The small private jet costs around 3.5 million US dollars. The extent of the damage to the jet and car cannot be determined. Apparently nobody was injured.
Numerous Reddit users expressed malice for the scene under the video. The question of whether insurance could cover the damage was also discussed. Anyone who – so far – has not been carried away by a comment, as is usually the case: Tesla boss Elon Musk.