Posted on 04/29/2018 4:09:18 PM PDT by BBell
Tesla owner who turned on car's autopilot then sat in passenger seat while travelling on the M1 banned from driving
A man who switched on his car's autopilot before moving to the passenger seat while travelling along a motorway has been banned from driving for 18 months.
Bhavesh Patel, aged 39, of Alfreton Road, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at St Albans Crown Court on Friday, April 20.
The court heard that at 7.40pm on May 21, 2017, Patel was driving his white Tesla S 60 along the northbound carriageway of the M1, between junctions 8 and 9 near Hemel Hempstead.
While the £70,000 car was in motion, he chose to switch on the supercar's autopilot function before moving across to the passenger seat and leaving the steering wheel and foot controls completely unmanned.
A witness noticed Patel, who had owned the car for a maximum of five months at the time of the incident, sat in the passenger seat of the vehicle.
No one could be seen in the driver's seat and Patel appeared to have his hands behind his head. The witness, who was a passenger in another car, filmed Patel as the car drove past.
Witness accounts stated that traffic was heavy due to congestion and it has been estimated that the vehicle was travelling at approximately 40mph at the time.
Footage of the incident was first posted on social media before it was reported to police and a Notice of Intended Prosecution was then sent to Patel in the post.
He was later interviewed by officers at Stevenage Police Station, where he admitted that he knew what he had done was 'silly', but that the car was capable of something 'amazing' and that he was just the 'unlucky one who got caught'.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
About $96k. I used the currency converter on google.
don’t apologize too soon
(Snopes is very very unreliable, imho to put it mildly)
The only reason to feel like a jackass is the fact that you consulted with Snopes.
British highways have speed limits listed in both MPH and KPH
Well, if Snopes says so, I could be mistaken. I question everything they ssy.
Considering the number of verifiable instances of insane judgements in lawsuits over personal injury, it’s not hard to believe stories like that.
Look at an ordinary stepladder at your local home store, and count the number of warning stickers on each ladder. You will be shocked.
I don’t trust snopes either but I think they may be right on this one.
Lol, more likely Hindu.
A few years ago, about 50 percent of the kids at a local high school were named Patel. However, it is said that nowadays, wealthy Chinese Communist bureaucrats buy property in the neighborhood so they can send their sons to that school, so the number of Patels has gone down.
A little more than a $2k I could afford if I needed another set of wheels.
Patel sounds more like a dot head
” the car in front moved to the right lane to avoid a truck stopped on the left shoulder, and the Tesla, which the drivers father believes was in Autopilot mode, did not slow before colliding with the stopped truck.”
The auto pilot should have also been using WAZE, just saying
It is.
Debunked thoroughly by Winnebago, who have lost money (supposedly) as a result of this blatant tall tale.
Also Tesla states that auto pilot is NOT full autonomous driving and the driver needs to be ready to take control. So this guy is an idiot no matter how you look at it.
Wait, Mr Grazinski had a sex change after they got the Stella Award in the old e-mail? Damn, hate all these gender changes... And it was a cup of coffee in the old Stella award yarn...
(Yeah, fake urban legend, as old as cruise control is.)
Having grown up in Gujerat province, where Patel’s originate from, most Patel’s follow the Hindu religion, but some Muslims also have that last name. Ditto with last name “Shah”. In general Shah’s are more trustworthy, FWIW.
Oh c'mon! Everybody knows the British system, it's really easy:
First, you measure your speed in miles-per-hour. There used to be only three speed limits in the UK, 30 in town, 50 on secondary (B) roads, and 70 on the motorways (M) and primary (A) roads. But as you will see, life in the UK has gotten a little more complicated.
Second, you buy your fuel in liters for convenience, as explained next.
Third, you measure your fuel mileage in miles-per-gallon, but not a U.S. gallon, an Imperial gallon, which is actually 1.20095042 U.S. gallons. That's why you buy your fuel in liters. {;^)
Fourth, you measure your car's weight in tonnes - but the metric ton, 1,000 kilos.
Fifth, you buy a beer in the pub by the pint - Imperial pint.
Sixth, you buy other beverages by the liter.
Seventh, you buy tea by the kilo.
Eighth, you measure land by the acre.
Ninth, you measure a house by the square meter.
And ten, you spend money by the Pound!
Why? He wasn’t driving. Your Honor.
All he needed was a good blow up doll, like the famous Otto Pilot.
With Otto being a smoker he may have left him at home.
But Patels own the motels.
All Gujerati’s strive to own businesses. They are prodigious savers, and also own lots of 7-11’s.
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