Self-driving cars are the future of commuting, at least for some companies, because Tesla still needs its own human safety drivers in case of accidents. This requirement, however, comes with its own issues, as one passenger in San Francisco, California, has proven. A safety driver for one of the Tesla Robotaxis in San Francisco became quite notorious online for his tendency to doze off during trips, causing concern for passengers.
Such a worrying allegation came from Reddit user and San Francisco local, ohmichael, who shared the incident of the sleepy safety driver. And while the Tesla Robotaxis have safety alerts and beeps to wake the driver up, it appears their effects are brief, and the safety driver kept repeating one of the most common human errors in existence:
In the video, captured around early November, you can see the driver’s head bobbing back and forth as is usual for people who have fallen asleep while sitting, his hands barely clinging to the steering wheel. Granted, the passenger seems to have gotten the short end of the stick for this particular ride, and they also swore that their other Tesla Robotaxi rides have been positive. It’s just that this particular one was quite alarming.
“This time was different. The safety driver literally fell asleep at least three times during the ride. Each time the car’s pay attention safety alert went off and the beeping is what woke him back up,” claims the Robotaxi passenger. Apparently, the passenger had already reported the incident through the Robotaxi app, but his complaints received no response, even after a week, hence the post on Reddit.
People online are advising the passenger to report it again
While Tesla Robotaxi self-drives decently enough, the supervision of safety drivers is crucial to the vehicle’s operation. So the safety net dozing off is a bad look. Still, some commenters have questioned the passenger’s reaction, as they assumed the only action he took upon seeing the sleeping safety driver was take a video, “Am I weird…? Because I would have woke his [expletive] up the second I noticed…” with another responding, “Yeah why did they just record him, they both could’ve died or been seriously hurt lmao.”
It turns out this same safety driver was allegedly notorious for sleeping, as another San Francisco local claims he did the same on their trip, “Dude! This was my driver too! I already reported him to Tesla. Wtf?? It was 7am driving from Temescal to SF. Took an hour with traffic and it was just this the entire time.” Some have thus wondered whether the man was even fit to drive in the first place, “I wonder if dude has narcolepsy. If so, he shouldn’t be behind any wheel whatsoever.”
“Oof. I do not trust those for a minute frankly. Try a Waymo next time. They’re actually safe to be in without a driver,” suggests another commenter. In any case, the most optimal solution that commenters on the video have suggested is to report the incident once more, but this time to the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission). Technically, safety drivers are still considered drivers, and passengers are entitled to leave the vehicle if they are unfit to drive, whether through drowsiness, exhaustion, impairment, or intoxication.
