From the FFS File, reports are circulating of people driving Teslas in Autopilot mode while wearing the new Apple Vision Pro virtual-reality goggles.
This is, of course, an exercise in stupidity, even if not all the videos circulating online are legit.
In any case, the stunts were sufficient to draw a rebuke from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“Reminder,” he posted on Twitter (aka X), “ALL advanced driver assistance systems available today require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also weighed in, saying that “driving while wearing a V.R. headset is reckless and disregards the safety of everyone on the road.”
That’s putting it mildly.
This is an amazingly dumb thing to do, although it seems inevitable that some knuckleheads will endanger themselves and others by experimenting with being in the real world and the metaverse simultaneously, all while barreling down the highway at more than 60 miles an hour.
Some of the videos making the rounds look staged. But others do make it appear that the driver is indeed exploring cyberspace while ostensibly overseeing a Tesla’s Autopilot performance — performance that’s been linked to numerous crashes.
The Vision Pro headsets have been depicted in various settings, including restaurants and fitness centers.
But clips of people sporting the goggle while on the road, even if staged, are particularly alarming.
They’re also an indication of things to come as some folk assert their personal freedom by behaving in reckless and foolish manners.
Federal authorities say more than 3,500 people in the United States were killed in distracted-driving crashes as of 2021, and more than 360,000 were injured.
Considering the Apple headsets retail for $3,500, putting your life on the line to see what they’re like seems like a decidedly dumb way of getting a big bang for your bucks.
Stick with hunting Pokemon instead.
