Google’s bus crash is changing the conversation around self-driving cars

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20. I tested a Tesla with autopilot last week

I was in the St. Louis area visiting my sister, brother in law, and their feline kiddos. As there is a Tesla store down there I took the opportunity to stop there and salivate over the Teslas there. I was able to take this Model S with autopilot on a test drive.



The salesperson had me take the car up on to I-170 for a bit. I had to keep my hands close by to the wheel while autopilot was engaged and focus on the road in case there was a need to stop abruptly. If I wanted to switch lanes that was something I had to do myself, the autopilot isn't smart enough to go around slower moving vehicles. Plus it's dependent on the line markers on the road, so when it's raining like it was that day it didn't work as well. I got a little nervous because it seemed to be almost to the point of drifting into an adjacent lane, especially on curves.

I think there's promise in the technology but it's still very early on.