Posted on 05/25/2026 5:36:58 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Today I had the experience of driving for an extended period behind a Tesla. One of my daughters was with me. We were in a rural area of upstate New York, on a two-lane road with enough curves and oncoming traffic that there were few opportunities to pass. So we were behind this car for about 20 miles. We took the opportunity to observe some things about how the new world works.
Living in Manhattan, we don’t go out for extended drives in the country all that often. Maybe most readers here drive much more than I do and have had experiences like the one I am about to describe. But this was new to me.
The Tesla that we were following was a white sedan. We didn’t get a photo, but the car looked very much like the one in this picture below (the difference being that the picture appears to have been taken in Queens, but we were in a rural area upstate):
In upstate New York, there is a general speed limit of 55 mph where no other limit is specified. And thus 55 was the speed limit for most of our time on this road. As all normal people know, at least in this area, 55 does not really mean 55. The most common speed of traffic on this road is between 60 and 65, and you will not get a ticket even up to 70. But this Tesla was going exactly 55. Not 56 or 54, but 55.
Then we approached an area with some population and businesses. Heading into that area, the speed limit dropped to 45, although the speed limit sign came several hundred yards before the buildings. Right at the sign, the Tesla slowed down to precisely 45. That’s when my daughter remarked that this car had to be operating in self-driving mode.
Sure enough, right where the speed limit ended, the Tesla went back to exactly 55.
Several miles further on came a zone with a speed limit of 35. The same principles were applied: the car slowed down to exactly 35 at the first speed limit sign, continued at exactly 35 through the zone, and went back to exactly 55 immediately after the zone. Then, after a stretch at 55, there was another short 45 mph zone. Once more, it was the same drill.
Then, back at 55, we could see in the distance a school bus approaching from the opposite direction. Several hundred yards ahead, it stopped. Its red lights began flashing. A “STOP” sign swung out on its driver’s side toward our lane of traffic. Its door opened. There was plenty of time for cars going our direction to stop.
This happened too fast for us to get a picture, but here is a representative image of a school bus looking pretty much like that one, stopped, lights flashing, “STOP” sign perpendicular, and door open:
A couple of little kids came out the door.
And then the Tesla blew by at full speed!
Oops. I guess they haven’t programmed the school bus thing into the operating system just yet. Fortunately the kids weren’t trying to cross the highway at that moment.
By the time the kids had disembarked and the school bus had turned off its flashing lights, the Tesla was far ahead of us. But a few miles further on, we had caught back up, and we soon came to a place where the highway passes an ultra-high-end gated golf community. (For a time, Tom Brady and then-wife Gisele were the most famous owners there.). To our total lack of surprise, the Tesla turned in.
I suppose that the issue of failing to stop for a school bus can be seen as a software glitch that can be easily corrected. Probably, that issue will be corrected in the next update. Maybe it has already been corrected and this particular car just didn’t have the update.
But how about the more general and important issue that this self-driving car mechanically followed rules to the letter without exercising any judgment or considering trade-offs. Can that be corrected? Many may actually not even consider that to be a problem. Shouldn’t everybody obey all rules and regulations, even the most minute and picayune, to the letter?
I consider myself lucky that I am old enough that I don’t have to adapt (much) to the oncoming world of AI and self-driving cars and robots and the like. Young people today are not so lucky.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Older model Teslas have hardware that can’t fully take advantage of the new software as it gets updated. My Tesla saved the life of an idiot on a bike going up monitor pass in the Sierras. He was in the middle of the lane on a blind curve. I don’t know if I could have reacted as fast. In stop and go traffic on freeways where motorcycles pass narrowly between cars my Tesla sees them coming up and moves over in the lane. It makes occasional minor mistakes (mostly navigational) but overall it is an amazing system.
As was the case, I’m sure, for everybody on this forum, in order to get my license I had to pass a written test, and if I didn’t know what to do when approaching a stopped school bus with its lights flashing I would have flunked.
But apparently if you’re an AI self-driving protocol, whatever the machine-equivalent to such a written test would be does not exist, and you get the equivalent of your license just by being installed. I don’t like the state poking their nose into everything, but if I have to know the rules of the road I don’t see why my Tesla doesn’t have to.
A late model Tesla on the HD4 platform and the latest software will drive better than you can. It's looking in ALL directions ALL the time, and its reaction time is superhuman.
Tesla drivers in my area are fully obnoxious. My son tells me that they all previously owned a Leaf. Virtue signalers are just unholy manifestations from the dark side.
A boring report and I don’t believe it.
Media is full of anti Tesla anti Musk stories.
That last rocket test blew up at the very end by design.
Social media is loaded with stories: Space X rocket blows up during test!
Yeah he followed a Tesla but no pictures. No one reported the infraction.
Lots of people drive slow and you can set a cruise control on any car for any speed you want.
Not even remotely limited to a Tesla.
Tragic no one else here realizes this article is total BS.
My car is not a Tesla and not “self driving”. I set the cruise control to any speed I want. Encounter lots of slow cars and seldom are they Teslas.
And no way a Tesla doesn’t know about school busses.
I've always been the "Mr. Safety" if the family, and I came away hoping that, in the future, my sons would have such vehicles.
It also occurred to me that a self-driving car might be a real boon for someone living alone being able to get to a hospital during a medical emergency. I'm sure we'll be hearing such stories in the future.
Except in Europe, Asia, and other places outside North America. All the cars that I have rented in Ireland and Scotland had manual transmissions, although automatic transmissions were available for a premium price. On our last visit to Scotland, the rental agent assumed that as Americans we would prefer an automatic transmission and repeatedly tried to up-sell us from the manual transmission vehicle that we reserved. I responded that "if we wanted to lease an automatic, I would have booked one in the first place." She finally gave up.
From what I understand the driver can take control even in this self drive mode. Presumably the driver wasn’t paying any attention. I would have taken a license number and notified the police that the vehicle drove by a stopped school bus. I’m sure the bus driver would corroborate the incident.
A few years ago I had a 25-year-old coworker who was going to travel to Spain for a couple of weeks. It would have cost her about $500 extra to rent a car with an automatic transmission. We spent about an hour in my Nissan Sentra teaching her the basics of manual transmission use, and she did fine on her trip.
“Can that be corrected? Many may actually not even consider that to be a problem. Shouldn’t everybody obey all rules and regulations, even the most minute and picayune, to the letter?”
I think there would be hardly any accidents if everyone had and used FSD. There are so many times when some jerk comes by weaving in and out of traffic going 90+ mph.
Or racing around neighborhoods with kids.
Zeroth Law of Robotics ‘A robot may not harm humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.’
Do they still have Driver’s Ed in high school?
= = =
Yes, but you can answer it in AI.
If gas prices go up, many of us STIL wont be able to afford an EV, or maybe even a car of any kind. To me that means that not many of us will be buying an EV because of the price of gas. Adding to that & assuming there might be many older used EVs on the market in the future, you would just about have to be out of your mind to want one of THOSE.
It stinks to have to sit around when you’ve got places to go, but living in society has certain trade-offs and limitations.
Dad taught all of us: "When in doubt, when a child even might be around, STOP!"
Even if the bus does not have its own STOP sign deployed, "When in doubt, STOP!"
If the car(s) behind you don't like it that you have stopped , Ef um.
Our dad survived WWII, Korea and Vietnam, so when he taught and told us something, we listened.
Tesla Full self driving (supervised) saved me from getting side swiped last week by a vehicle outside of my range of vision. But one of Elons cameras saw it developing and moved me over a few feet to prevent the accident that would have been at highway speeds.
My Ford Blue Cruise is useful. Last night I was driving in bad visibility and I appreciated the assist.
I think you are the exception. I find the internet Tesla "experts" don't actually own a late model Tesla and have never even been in one.
If they would only remember there was a time the media thought Elon Musk walked on water, and Teslas were the greatest thing since sliced bread. All that changed once he aligned himself with Trump.
I suspect the whole article is made up. Seems to be the trend today.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.