Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, responded to a video of the Tesla car of a Belgian man, showing how it automatically swerved to avoid a wild boar crossing the road.
Kenneth Van Hoesen was driving to his bakery at night, when a wild boar crossed the motorway in the municipality of Houthalen-Helchteren in the Limburg province and hit the side of the car.
"I pulled the steering wheel, but the car took over and chose the right lane immediately after the blow," Van Hoesen told a local news outlet.
"In the video, it is clearly visible how the car takes over. I really felt the steering wheel turning. Apparently it automatically gives more power and braking to the tires when it feels something wrong," he added.
The car is equipped with four cameras that record everything, and Van Hoesen decided to share the video in a Facebook group of locals, to warn them of crossing boars, he said.
Autopilot prime directive is: don’t crash. What seems fast to humans is slow to a computer. 360 degree low light vision & sonar, plus forward radar enable to be superhuman. Upcoming software upgrades will increasingly show the potential.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 8, 2020
However, the video was posted on other social media networks, went viral, and managed to reach Elon Musk, the CEO of the Tesla company.
In a reaction on Twitter, Musk said that "what seems fast to humans is slow to a computer," explaining that the autopilot prime directive is "don’t crash."
Van Hoesen said he is happy that Musk responded, but stressed that his main goal was to inform the locals of the crossing boars.
"However, my footage went viral, so I guess that is something to cross off my bucket list," he added.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
