Tesla Autopilot automatically avoids head-on collision with car in wrong lane

A Tesla driver claims that Autopilot automatically moved to avoid a head-on collision with a car in the wrong lane on the highway.

The incident happened on Highway 49 near the Cabarrus arena in Concord, North Carolina last week.

Bret Peters was driving his Tesla vehicle on Autopilot when he felt the vehicle swerve and he didn’t know why.

He told FOX 46:

“I initially looked down to see what was going on with the car and why it was reacting or why it was braking. When I looked up I saw the vehicle in my lane and before I could even put my foot on the brake it had started changing lanes,”

The entire thing was captured on TeslaCam, Tesla’s integrated dashcam system using Autopilot cameras, and it shows that the vehicle in the wrong lane started swerving off-road as it was getting closer to the Tesla, but the latter also moved toward the right lane to avoid the car.

Here’s the Fox report on the incident, which includes the TeslaCam video.

Peters, a former State Trooper, added about the incident and the importance of Autopilot’s safety features:

“It’s sobering how dangerous it is driving at night and I make that commute twice a day every day. It’s right at an hour each direction. That’s a lot of miles and a lot of time on the road and knowing that I have that safety feature is huge.”

When asked about the critics who say that Tesla Autopilot is a dangerous feature, like US Senator Ed Markey who is pushing for Tesla to deactivate the feature, Peters said:

“Get over yourself. Technology is faster and more responsive and it’s paying attention even when you’re not.”

While it does pay attention when people don’t, Tesla makes it clear that drivers need to be paying attention at all times when using Autopilot. They have to keep their hands on the steering wheel and be ready to take control at any time.

This is the latest example of a Tesla owner claiming that Autopilot helped them avoid a potentially catastrophic accident.

We previously reported on a Tesla Autopilot safety feature helping save a cop who was running a red light. A Tesla Model 3 owner claimed ‘Autopilot saved his life’ by swerving away in a near-miss on the highway and another similar incident was also caught on video just a few months prior.