YouTube has removed a pair of videos from its platform, in which Tesla drivers are seen conducting amateur safety tests using their children, instead of dummies, on the road or in the driveway. This is reported by CNBC.
The tests are designed to determine whether a Tesla moving slowly and equipped with the company’s latest driver assistance systems will be able to avoid a collision with pedestrians – and in this case with children – walking or standing on the road.
In a video posted on August 14, Tesla investor Tad Park is seen driving his Model 3 at 13 mph toward one of his children on a road in the San Francisco area. No one was hurt in this incident. The video garnered hundreds of thousands of views before YouTube removed it.
“YouTube does not allow content that shows minors taking part in dangerous activities, or encourages minors to do dangerous things. We have concluded that these videos violate our policies, and as a result we have removed them,” YouTube spokeswoman Elena Hernandez said.
The specific YouTube policy mentioned is the one related to dangerous and harmful content. The company removes videos that encourage dangerous or illegal activity, which poses a risk of bodily harm or death, when these are brought to its attention. “Specifically, we do not allow content that shows or encourages minors in harmful situations that could lead to injury, including dangerous stunts and stunts,” the company said.
Tesla markets its driver assistance systems in the US as a standard package called Autopilot, and a premium option called Full Self-Driving (FSD), which costs $12,000. It also offers some drivers access to an experimental program called Full Self-Driving Beta, if they reach high scores in the company’s safety tests.
None of these systems make Tesla’s cars self-driving, nor safe to use without a driver behind the wheel, paying attention to the road and able to grab the wheel, brake, or accelerate at short notice. Tesla’s manuals warn drivers that these systems do not make their cars autonomous.