Tesla vehicles reportedly let drivers play video games, U.S. government gets involved
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is looking into reports of Tesla allowing drivers to play video games while its vehicles are in motion.
In a story by the Associated Press, Tesla owner Vince Patton was curious to see if the vehicle’s dashboard touchscreen would allow him to play video games as he was driving. Patton opened Sky Force Reloaded, an arcade-style shooter, then drove around an empty parking lot. Incredibly, the game stayed open during the experiment.
“I was just dumbfounded that, yes, sure enough, this sophisticated video game came up,” Patton said via Associated Press. “Somebody’s going to get killed. It’s absolutely insane.”
As you can see from the trailer below, Sky Force Reloaded looks like it would be incredibly distracting to anyone driving.
Afterward, Patton filed a complaint with the NHTSA about his findings.
“We are aware of driver concerns and are discussing the feature with the manufacturer,” the NHTSA said via Associated Press. “The Vehicle Safety Act prohibits manufacturers from selling vehicles with design defects posing unreasonable risks to safety.”
Despite speaking with Tesla, the NHTSA has yet to investigate the matter formally. The manufacturer does have safety guidelines on its dashboards asking if players are passengers. However, according to Patton, there appears to be no real way for the company to confirm the driver isn’t the one playing.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.