Video Proves Tesla Autopilot Works, Avoids Fatal Collision

Tesla has been coming under fire for more than a year due to numerous crash incidents involving its vehicles and the semi-autonomous driving feature called Autopilot. While the car company has been trying to put out the fires and earn back the trust of the people, a new video came out that vindicated Elon Musk. It featured a Tesla vehicle on Autopilot mode sensing an imminent collision and hitting the brakes, thus avoiding what would have been a fatal accident.

The video was taken by the dashcam mounted on the Tesla Model S of Hans Noordsij, Quartz reports. Mr. Noordsij lives in The Netherlands and the footage was captured while driving on a highway at Eindhoven, Netherlands. According to him, the car sensed that a collision was about to occur ahead of him and applied the brakes before the accident was even visible.

Mr. Noordsij then posted the video on Twitter, tagging Tesla’s CEO with the message “Finally the right one.” It must have made an impression on the embattled billionaire since he re-Tweeted the post, which would have given him no small amount of vindication after suffering under a barrage of doubt and criticism.

Speaking to Electrek, Noordsij described the sequence of events as him cruising down the highway, hearing the Forward Collision Warning alert of the car, and then feeling the vehicle engage the emergency brake. This proves that Tesla’s Autopilot, despite being considered a beta product by many, is a working feature that does its job when used correctly.

Tesla has already made it clear in the past that, although Autopilot is named such, it is not a fully-functional autonomous driving feature. Rather, it’s semi-autonomous that is simply intended to lighten the burden of driving. Car owners are still required to remain vigilant behind the wheel and be ready to take over if something happens.