LOS ANGELES — (KCAL/KCBS/CNN) - A startling cellphone video appears to show a man asleep at the wheel while his car is on autopilot on a busy Southern California freeway.
"We were going about 75 mph on the highway, and he was just totally out," said witness Seth Blake.
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Blake was driving from Anaheim to Los Angeles on March 4 when he spotted what appeared to be a Tesla driver snoozing on the road. A month and a half ago, a different video was posted to Reddit that appeared to show the same guy, doing the same thing!
"I noticed the guy was slouched way back in his chair, and I was like, 'Is that guy sleeping?' And I pull up next to him. He was asleep, so I asked my fianceé to take a video. That guy is sleeping," said Blake.
It wasn't something he was expecting to see, especially since he was only visiting from Florida with his band "Wage War."
He posted the video to Twitter, and it went viral.
Dude is straight snoozing going 75mph on the interstate, letting his @Tesla do the work. 😳😴 pic.twitter.com/RQD2LBSnGh
— SETH BLAKE (@SethWageWar) March 4, 2019
"We were in his area where he was driving only for about 10 minutes, and he only woke up one time, looked around and went back to sleep," said Blake.
Tesla declined to comment on the video.
According to the company: "Autopilot is intended for use only with a fully attentive driver who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at anytime."
"He did have his hand positioned into the steering wheel while he was asleep, so I think that it wouldn't fall off and that's what made it possible for him to keep driving while he was asleep. He was applying pressure even though he wasn't awake," said Blake
Tesla says the autopilot function is intended to increase safety on the roads.
