Video appears to show a Tesla Model S traveling on the road at speed with no one in the driver's seat (TSLA)

tesla model s autopilot

Video showing a Tesla Model S driving at speed on a road with no one in the driver's seat circulated on social media Tuesday night.
The luxury electric car appeared to be operating on Autopilot, Tesla's semi-autonomous-driving technology that allows its vehicles equipped with the feature to steer, accelerate, brake, and change lanes with driver supervision.
At one point, a camera pans around the cabin to reveal a person lying down in the back seat.
Videos showing Tesla drivers asleep or otherwise preoccupied behind the steering wheel are fairly common, even as the carmaker implores its customers to remain in control of their vehicles while operating them on Autopilot.

Video showing a Tesla Model S driving at speed on a road with no one in the driver's seat circulated on social media Tuesday night.

The luxury electric car appeared to be operating on Autopilot, Tesla's semi-autonomous-driving technology that allows its vehicles equipped with the feature to steer, accelerate, brake, and change lanes with driver supervision.

At one point in the video, the camera pans toward the windshield to show the car is traveling at speed down a two-lane road. The digital instrument cluster can be seen with "115" displayed, but it was not immediately clear whether that number represented miles-per-hour, or kilometers-per-hour.

People are really stupid / this is why we can’t have nice things / WTF?! / Darwin at work pic.twitter.com/wU91HENOQH
— 🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄🦄 (@Jason) April 3, 2019

A beverage holder containing a bottled drink is attached to the car's steering wheel.

The camera then turns away from the Model S's empty driver's seat to reveal a person lying down on the back seat.

Videos showing Tesla drivers asleep or otherwise preoccupied behind the steering wheel are fairly common, even as the carmaker implores its customers to remain in control of their vehicles while operating them on Autopilot.

The system requires drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel. It activates a series of warnings if it detects no steering feedback from the driver. If the driver does not respond, the system deactivates itself, slows the vehicle to a stop, and turns on the hazard lights.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment about the video on Tuesday night.

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