“Dear Tesla & Elon Musk … Because Of You I Won’t Be Going To A Funeral”

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

“Dear Tesla and Elon Musk,” writes a user on Reddit in a post that has been deleted by the administrators, “thank you for your technology. Because of you, I won’t be going to a funeral this weekend, because you saved a family member.”

The post included a link to a news video shared by Fox 46 in which the reporter on the scene described many a driver’s worst fear. It was a dark night, very few lights on the road, and suddenly there were headlights coming right at the driver. In such a situation, you may not even have time to register the fact that you have a wrong-way driver whose lights are bearing down on you.

“Do you think you would have time to react or would you trust your car to do it for you?” asks Janine Donaldson, the reporter. The experience could have been fatal, but Tesla’s Autopilot prevented that by driving the car itself and avoiding the head-on collision. Tesla owner and former North Carolina State Trooper (Rick or Brett) Peters noticed that his vehicle, with Autopilot enabled, suddenly started slowing down and braking. He glanced at the screen. When he looked back up, all he saw were headlights. “Before I could put my foot on the brake, it had already started changing lanes,” says Peter.

Dear Elon Musk

He was driving down the highway earlier in the morning when the other car, driving 60 miles an hour, appeared in his lane driving toward him from the wrong way. All of this was caught on Tesla’s dashcam video. “It’s sobering how dangerous it is driving at night and I make that commute twice a day every day,” Peters told Fox 46.

The oncoming car appeared almost instantaneously, leaving him with no time to react. Peter added that, “Distracted driving is what’s killing people. This car,” he points to his Tesla, “is always watching. It knew that there was nobody in the lane to the right of me and started making that change to the right because it had already been looking. It’s constantly looking.”

The reporter also noted that Tesla’s technology has caught vandals (as we’ve reported several times before) and is saving lives despite the bad rep Tesla has received. In fact, Peters has a message for Tesla skeptics: “Get over yourselves. Technology is faster, more responsive, and it’s paying attention even when you’re not.”

As more lives are saved with Tesla’s technology, including Autopilot, these “Dear Elon Musk” letters, posts, and videos will become even more frequent. Skeptics may not see the value in life-saving technology, but those who are saved by this tech do, and that’s what matters the most.


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

Johnna Crider

Johnna owns less than one share of $TSLA currently and supports Tesla's mission. She also gardens, collects interesting minerals and can be found on TikTok

Johnna Crider has 1996 posts and counting. See all posts by Johnna Crider