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  • So most of you guys know I drive a manual Toyota Tacoma.

  • I have for years.

  • My last truck was a manual, this truck is a manual.

  • I don't drive an automatic vehicle because I like being in control.

  • Well this is a Tesla, and it has something called autopilot, which means it basically

  • drives for you.

  • One of the questions I've had in my head is can you text and drive a Tesla at the same

  • time while its doing its autopilot thing.

  • Because it's actually illegal in 47 states to text and drive at the same time.

  • But what if you're not technically driving?

  • There's only one way to find out.

  • We're in the middle of nowhere right now on a very secluded road where it should be safe

  • to do this.

  • Let's get started.

  • [Intro]

  • Alright so this is the Model X.

  • There are a total of 8 cameras surrounding this thing.

  • We're going to see if we can find them all.

  • I know up here by the rear view mirror there are three cameras, one pointing straight forward

  • and two at a diagonal, I believe.

  • Then there's another camera right here up here by the driver's seat.

  • It kind of like points down to the road to find the lanes that you're in.

  • There's also a series of ultrasonic sensors which are these little bits right here.

  • I assume they're plastic.

  • Here by the passenger side window we have another camera.

  • And there's another camera right here on the side pointing back towards the lane.

  • So that should be all of the cameras and the ultrasonic sensors.

  • There are another 4 sensors on the front as well...here and there.

  • Same on the other side.

  • So all of those sensors and radar, which I think is behind the rear view mirror as well,

  • it could be somewhere different, that's just where it's at on my Tacoma, should be able

  • to keep us safe while we're driving.

  • I just put my foot on the break, oh and the door closes.

  • Alright, so we are currently inside the Model X and it has this huge dash right here with

  • the display.

  • Got the Tesla logo.

  • So Dan, how do we turn on the autopilot?

  • [Dan] Okay so first of all you need to be driving.

  • The car is always looking and it's showing you up here in the front, it has to see the

  • lines on the road and see it long enough to recognize that okay, this is a road, we can

  • drive, I can look at this, and then it's always looking at the other cars.

  • So once it pops up and you're in a place where it's legitimately a safe or a good place for

  • you to do it, then there will be a little gray steering wheel that will pop up right

  • here, and then you know you're ready to enable it.

  • And at that point, there's a little lever on the side you just have to pull back on

  • it 2 times, and you'll be good to go.

  • [Zack] Alright, so right now our route is programmed for CES because that's where we're

  • headed.

  • We're headed to a high-tech conference in a high-tech car.

  • Pretty stoked about that.

  • So I am going to switch us down into drive.

  • There is no key for like, you know, ignition for this car because there's no combustion

  • engine.

  • It's just like an electric engine underneath.

  • And so the car is ready to go right now, and it's so weird to me because there's like no

  • explosions happening under the hood or under the bonnet if you're on the other side of

  • the ocean.

  • And so we're going to go ahead and merge over into this lane.

  • We're on the road.

  • And on the computer right now, if you can show the dashboard right here, it's showing

  • us that we can see the lanes that we're in.

  • It shows either side of it and it can, say like if I merge over a little bit to the side

  • right here, it shows me at the edge of the lane.

  • Or if I get on the other side, it'll move over to that side of the lane.

  • So it's keeping track with all of those cameras around the outside of the vehicle where we

  • are located in the lane itself.

  • Okay, one thing that is super important is that there does have to be lines on the road

  • for the autopilot to work.

  • And so if we want to show the road right now, we can see that there are lines on this newly

  • paved road so we should be fine.

  • And then here on the dashboard we have this grey steering wheel icon, which means that

  • we are enabled and ready to go into autopilot.

  • The icon is this little guy right here.

  • So in order to get on autopilot I'm going to pull in...so it's not these top two shifters,

  • but there's a shifter underneath and I'm going to pull it twice and I'll hear this little

  • ding, and then the steering wheel starts moving by itself.

  • It's the strangest thing!

  • And so right now it's set...it shows me the speed limit.

  • So the speed limit shows up right here and my max is one mile an hour above the speed

  • limit.

  • I'll drop that down one more.

  • And so this blue steering wheel right here shows us that we're in autopilot, and it shows

  • us where in the lane we currently are.

  • And the car's driving completely by itself...like it just took a turn in the car and I didn't

  • touch a thing.

  • So when I turn on the autopilot on this vehicle, there is a little warning message that pops

  • up telling me to keep my hands close to the steering wheel at all times.

  • Because remember, autopilot is different than autonomous driving, and I do have to be ready

  • to take over just in case anything goes wrong.

  • Remember full autonomous driving has not been approved yet in the United States, and that's

  • why the hardware is ready inside of the Tesla's, but it's not enabled yet.

  • So every now and then this will pop up a little warning telling me that I have to hold onto

  • the steering wheel in order for it to continue taking us to our destination or where we have

  • planned to go.

  • And so while I can look at you and talk to you and the car's going to do all the turning

  • and braking, and if like another car merges into our lane is going to stop, it's still

  • going to make sure that I'm awake and that I'm attentive by having me...see right here

  • it sayshold the steering wheel”.

  • And the outside of this frame has started to flash a little bit.

  • So I'm going to grab the steering wheel with my hands and then that warning sign goes away

  • and then it goes back to autonomous driving.

  • So I am looking forward to the fully autonomous driving in the future.

  • This autopilot is a step in that direction.

  • My question is what happens when someone gets too comfortable on this autopilot?

  • So right now that warning message just popped up on the steering wheel saying I have to

  • grab the steering wheel to show that I'm attentive, I'm not texting, I'm not, you know, watching

  • a movie or something like that.

  • So we're going to see how long it takes for the car to actually stop.

  • We just heard it beep.

  • And it doesn't know if I'm asleep, it doesn't know if I'm texting, it doesn't know if I'm

  • talking to a YouTube camera.

  • So it just beeped again.

  • So if I was falling asleep, I probably would be awake by now and I could show that I'm

  • attentive...Oh check out this... “auto steering not available for the rest of the drive.”

  • [Dan] And it stops in the middle of the road!

  • [Zack] It stopped us in the middle of the road.

  • So there's a car coming, so I'm going to move our car really quick.

  • It just said press the accelerator pedal.

  • Everything turned off as soon as I accelerated.

  • Okay, so now we're going to pull over and access what just happened here.

  • [Dan] I've never done that in my Tesla and I was pretty nervous, and I was surprised

  • at how fast it was, like that happened quick.

  • [Zack] Yeah, like if we...let's say I was having a heart attack or some kind of medical

  • emergency or something like that...now I kind of wish that it would have pulled over to

  • the side of the road.

  • Maybe with autopilot it doesn't know what lane we're in.

  • And so it just stopped in the center of the road and turned on our flashers, which was

  • probably a good thing.

  • But that was really interesting and it happened really quick.

  • What was that?

  • Between the time that we started autopilot and I never touched the steering wheel, it

  • was probably within about 60 seconds.

  • That was interesting.

  • That was pretty quick.

  • [Dan] That was a little scary.

  • I didn't expect it to stop in the middle of the road, like what if you were driving on

  • the actual freeway?

  • We were on a safe road off in the middle of a...not even a town, we're in some farmland.

  • But what if you're on the freeway, four-lane highway going 85 miles an hour, which in Utah

  • the speed limit is 80 on some of these roads, and the car just stops and turns on the flashers

  • right in the middle of the road?

  • I guess it's safer than if you had a heart attack and the car just kept on going and

  • veered off and stopped.

  • That's definitely one way to get your attention.

  • [Zack] One thing that did freak me out a little bit, and I hope that it doesn't mess up the

  • car permanently, it said that it was...that feature was not going to be available for

  • the rest of the drive.

  • So I'm curios now if we start the car up again if that gray steering wheel which allows us

  • to go into autopilot is not popping up.

  • So I wonder what that punishment period is.

  • I wonder how long that's going to last.

  • [Dan] Well thanks to your little test, Zack, it's not like we have 6 and a half hours left

  • till Vegas!

  • We're driving an autonomous car and we can't even use autopilot the rest of the trip.

  • [Zack] You win some, you lose some.

  • You know, we'll keep track of it.

  • We'll drive for another 4 or 5 hours and we'll see if that gray steering wheel pops up.

  • And in the mean time, I'm sorry Dan that your car is not autonomous anymore.

  • [Dan] Okay, here's what I think is going to happen, I'm hoping, we're about 15 minutes

  • away from an actual super charging station so I'm hoping that if we sit parked for maybe

  • 30 minutes, get some electricity in this car, maybe it'll count as a new session, a new

  • driving session, once we get back on the road because 6 and a half hours of driving to Las

  • Vegas to CES with no autopilot..I know it's like first world problems, but I really like

  • my autopilot It's nice.

  • You may have killed it!

  • [Zack] I hope it comes back eventually.

  • Good news, we made it to Las Vegas, and even better news, the autopilot started working.

  • [Dan] Thank you for not breaking it.

  • [Zack] So we had to stop and charge like 15 or 20 minutes after we did our test, and then

  • we started the car again and the autopilot was working and it worked for the rest of

  • the trip.

  • We did not try to make the car break again, but it was interesting to see the probation

  • period between when we broke it and when it started working again.

  • [Dan] It really wasn't much, and I would think that Tesla would maybe punish you a little

  • bit more because, think about it, you fell asleep, or you were texting, or just weren't

  • paying attention, it was like yelling us, beeping and shining lights at us.

  • But yet, 20 minutes later...30 minutes later, autopilot is engaged.

  • [Zack] It'll be interesting to see what happens when the fully autonomous driving kicks in

  • and what kind of stipulations there are with that technology when it's legal and implemented

  • and everything.

  • The coolest part to me though about this road trip was that we didn't pay one single cent

  • for gasoline.

  • [Dan] That is really nice.

  • I mean, those of you that are buying a Model 3 right now, I know a lot of those are going

  • out, you have to pay for your supercharging at all of these stations always.

  • It's still cheaper than gas.

  • But for the Model S and the Model X they have this referral program right now to where if

  • you use somebody's code, somebody that already has a Tesla, then you get your charging for

  • free.

  • And that's only until I think January 31st.

  • And then Tesla will probably come out with another one, but if you're thinking about

  • getting a Tesla within the next few months, now would probably be the time so that you

  • can take advantage of that supercharging.

  • [Zack] So I'm going to steal Dan's code and put it down in the description so if you're

  • thinking about buying a Tesla, it's been on your mind and you want that free unlimited

  • charging for life...?

  • [Dan] For the life of the car, yeah, that you own it.

  • [Zack] That goes down in the description.

  • That's a pretty good deal.

  • So we're at Vegas and one of the coolest things that I'm looking forward to at CES is all

  • of the electric cars.

  • There's one in particular tomorrow that is especially fascinating So stick around for

  • that.

  • Thanks a ton for watching and I'll see you guys around.

So most of you guys know I drive a manual Toyota Tacoma.

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