A motorist who sat in the passenger seat as his semi-autonomous Tesla travelled along the busy M1 has narrowly avoided a custodial sentence, after being convicted of dangerous driving.
Bahavesh Patel was disqualified from driving for 18 months and given 100 hours’ community service.
Mr Patel was in the passenger seat of his Tesla S 60, when it was filmed with a vacant driver’s seat, by a passenger in another car.
Jeremy Sirrell, a Partner at Palmers, who specialises in motoring law, said: “Technology has reached the stage where cars can, for example, detect their distance from the car in front, analyse general traffic conditions and even, to a limited degree, manoeuvre either into parking spaces or between lanes.
“All of these functions, however, are only valid with a driver remaining alert and sitting in the driver’s seat, so that they are able to take over full control at a moment’s notice.
“Mr Patel’s actions in sitting in the passenger seat were wholly outside of the car’s capabilities and, as such, were grossly irresponsible. He may consider himself extremely fortunate to have escaped a sentence of imprisonment.
“At present, road traffic laws assume that drivers are always in full control of their cars at all times and if, for any reason, they are not, then the drivers will bear the responsibility. In other words, the law does not recognise any car as being an active participant in the driving experience, other than as a potentially faulty component.”
Jeremy continued: “The case raises interesting questions about autonomous cars and how the law should regard them.
“With the development of fully autonomous vehicles, the law will need to be changed and, in many respects in radical ways, to take account of these new vehicles.
“There is no doubt that, at some point in the future, fully autonomous cars will hit our roads – indeed they have already been tested in California and surreptitiously in this country too.
“At present, there are no fully autonomous cars on sale but it is only a question of time before they are. The law will need to adapt to the position at that time as there are important questions as to exactly what responsibility the driver will have in the event of a crash.
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