SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Josh Neally, the owner of a new Tesla X, said he used his vehicle’s autopilot function to get to a hospital after having a pulmonary embolism on the road.
The Springfield-based lawyer was driving to his daughter’s birthday late this July when he felt a sudden pain in his stomach and chest.
“I called my wife and just said ‘something’s wrong,’” Neally told KY3 News. “I couldn’t breathe, I was gasping, kind of hyperventilating.”
Instead of calling an ambulance, Neally used the car’s self-driving feature to find a nearby hospital. He finished the last part of the drive himself, and was able to check in to the emergency room.
Tesla’s autopilot feature has been under scrutiny from the NHTSA since its first fatal accidents have occurred, but nevertheless, Neally says he is “thankful” to have had the car during this experience.
Though it would perhaps have been more prudent to call 911 and wait for an ambulance, Neally points out that if he had fallen unconscious, the car would have pulled itself over after four minutes without him handling the steering wheel as part of a built-in safety mechanism.