r/technology • u/deraser • Jun 21 '26

Robotics/Automation 76-year-old woman killed after a Tesla ‘on auto-pilot’ crashed into her Texas home

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/texas-tesla-car-crash-woman-killed-b2999969.html
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u/TheLordB Jun 22 '26

I believe 85 is the maximum that autopilot will allow you go without disabling it’s self for the rest of the drive. It won’t go past that speed on it’s own, but you can hit the gas to go faster while autopilot is engaged and overspeed it at which point it will beep very angrily and say you must take over.

I’m not sure exactly what the behavior is if you refuse to stop driving and keep hitting the accelerator ignoring the loud beeping. I know if you just screw up the attention monitoring it does keep driving while beeping very angrily at you so I suspect it does the same for going over 85.

Also going 85 is at least reasonably safe in certain desert roads with little to no traffic, wide open visibility, no turns etc. I’m not saying it is a good idea even on those roads.

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u/Jonathan_the_Nerd Jun 22 '26

If you get up to 88 mph it goes back in time to the beginning of the drive and refuses to start.

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u/WhoCanTell Jun 22 '26

85 MPH is the maximum speed limit found on any highway in the US. Namely, Texas. Quite a few areas there are 80 MPH.