Whether you love them or hate them, self-driving cars are here to stay. While having a self-driving Tesla might sound like an amazing convenience, you really shouldn’t assume that it means you can completely avoid the responsibility of driving. After all, the technology isn’t perfect and can still make mistakes, which is exactly why drivers are supposed to remain fully alert and ready to take control at any moment. Unfortunately, this Texas TikToker clearly didn’t get the memo because she actually allowed her blind grandmother to take the wheel of her Tesla.
In the video, you can see an elderly woman wearing dark glasses sitting in the driver’s seat, while another woman is seated beside her in the passenger seat. The person filming the clip is in the backseat, recording the entire scene. The caption on the video reads, “My grandma drives for the first time in 10+ years with Tesla’s Full Self-Drive.” The group certainly seems amazed by what they are doing, laughing and expressing their excitement as the car moves along. Thankfully, they were only driving on a relatively quiet road with very little traffic, which likely prevented anything dangerous from happening.
Even so, what this Texas TikToker did was undeniably wrong because she actually violated Tesla’s terms of service. Tesla does have a feature called Full Self-Driving, but it still requires the driver to be fully capable of driving and ready to step in if the system makes a mistake. A blind person would obviously be unable to do that, which makes this stunt extremely reckless and dangerous.
Many Reddit users who came across the video were quick to criticize the Texas woman for her decision. One user wrote, “I don’t see how this is any different than being a passenger, other than endangering everyone on the road’s lives. Morons, the lot of them.” Another user chimed in with, “I literally just watched someone crash because of this. Took them right off the road.” These reactions highlight a much larger issue. Tesla may love to boast about how powerful and cutting-edge its technology is, but it’s not infallible, and it isn’t hard to find news stories of Tesla’s self-driving cars making terrible mistakes.
It seems that the TikToker, who goes by kpbarbz3, may have realized just how controversial the video was because she eventually deleted it from her TikTok account. However, by then, it was already too late as the video had spread to Reddit, where it continued to be shared and discussed. Despite this backlash, the Texas woman still appears to be a dedicated supporter of Tesla. In fact, her entire account is almost entirely focused on posting about Tesla cars and promoting the brand. She genuinely seems to have made Tesla a core part of her online identity and doesn’t appear to be backing down anytime soon.
