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Drunk Driver Of Tesla Claims Autopilot Was In Charge

When CHiPs officers on the Bay bridge found a man passed out in his car, he tried to retrieve the situation by claiming that his Tesla's autopilot was in charge.

Science fiction writers have long teased us with the idea of a car that drives itself:

  - A Baker's Dozen Of Autonomous Car-Related Revolutions
  - Google Should Name Roads After Science Fiction Authors
  - Baby Boomers Will LOVE Autonomous Cars (Trust Me!)
  - Tesla's To Eye Future With New Sensors?
  - BMW Plans Fully Autonomous Cars By 2025
  - Rinspeed 'Splash' English Channel Crossing
  - DARPA Urban Challenge For Autonomous Vehicles
  - Carnegie Mellon's Boss Wins DARPA Urban Challenge
  - GM Betting On Driverless Cars
  - Pribot Robotic Prius Tours 'Frisco
  - Attention Assist - Drowsy-Driver Detection Standard
  - WaterCar Python Not Your Father's Amphicar
  - Google's Autonomous Robotic Car
  - Autonomous Cars In Nevada?
  - Don't Drive Your Self-Driving Car
  - Cadillac Super Cruise Self-Driving Car
  - Google Self-Driving Car Now Commuter-Ready
  - Self-Driving Cars Ready To Buy In 5 Years Says Sergey Brin
  - Cruise Automation's 'Highway Autopilot' For $10K
  - Tesla 90 Percent Autonomous Car By 2015 - Elon Musk
  - Robert Heinlein, Your Self-Driving Car Is Almost Ready!
  - Volvo's 'Drive Me' Program Offers Autonomous Cars In 2017
  - Man Filmed Sleeping In Tesla On Autopilot

Philip K. Dick is way ahead of us in his 1963 novel The Game Players of Titan:

It had been a bad night, and when he tried to drive home he had a terrible argument with his car.

"Mr. Garden, you are in no condition to drive. Please use the auto-auto mech and recline in the rear seat."

Pete Garden sat at the steering tiller and said as distinctly has he could manage, "Look, I can drive... Start, darn it!"

The auto-auto said "You have not inserted the key."

"Okay," he said, feeling humiliated. Maybe the car was right...
(Read more about Dick's alcohol-sensing system)

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'My cars talk to one another.' - Isaac Asimov, 1953.

Waymo And Tesla 'Autonomous Cabs' Are Piloted By Remote Drivers
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Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously. - Arthur C. Clarke, 1976.

 

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