Tesla travels onto train track in Woodland. Was it a driver or autopilot issue?

WOODLAND — A Tesla autopilot mishap in the Woodland area had the police department remind the public always to stay vigilant while driving hands-free. 

Early Wednesday morning, a driver found themselves on an active train track while using the vehicle’s autopilot feature. The Woodland Police Department said the feature mistook the tracks for a road.

 
Ross Merva owns several Teslas and also repairs them. He said, in this instance, he suspects driver error because the car will come to a stop if you aren’t being vigilant.

Merva took us for a ride in his Tesla.

“See how it’s blinking blue right now? It’s telling me the Tesla sees that I’m not paying attention to the road. See how it’s getting louder? Soon, it will be so loud that even if you’re sleeping, you will not be able to stay asleep,” he said.

We got a second opinion. Dave Vennel, owner of Black Rock Automotive and a Tesla serviceman, called it the same thing: driver error.

Vennel said drivers are supposed to keep their hands on the wheel in case they have to take over from autopilot at a moment’s notice.

We asked him if he was surprised that a Tesla was on a train track.

“Not at all. There’s this phenomenon called death by GPS where people have driven their cars into oceans, driven their cars off cliffs,” he said. “With that in mind, that kind of thing is no more different than any of those cases.”