The US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took to social media platform X to warn that human drivers must pay attention at all times even when advanced driver assistance systems have been engaged. His reaction came after videos of people driving Teslas while apparently wearing Apple’s recently released Vision Pro headset went viral. Buttigieg responded on one such video on X that had more than 24 million views.
In the video, a man wearing a VR headset can be seen gesturing with his hands to manipulate a virtual reality field. “Reminder—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,” Buttigieg said.
Apple Vision Pro, which was launched last week, blends three-dimensional digital content with a view of the outside world. Apple has warned that people should never use it while operating a moving vehicle.
This is not the first time Tesla Autopilot has come under radar. Buttigieg has made similar comments previously, saying its advanced driver features are intended for use with a fully attentive driver “who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment.”
In a separate development, Tesla has warned of a sharp slowdown in sales growth this year. The CEO noted that ramping up production of the new vehicle would be challenging. He said it would take “a tremendous amount of new revolutionary manufacturing technology” – a sign that any boost to Tesla’s declining pace of growth would take time.
However, the company has already told suppliers to prepare for a June 2025 startup of a smaller crossover vehicle, which is critical for the automaker as it is seeing competition from inexpensive EVs such as those made by China’s BYD. The brand, in fact, overtook Tesla has the world’s top EV maker in 2023. “I’m often optimistic regarding time. But our current schedule shows that we will start production towards the end of 2025, sometime in the second half,” Musk told analysts on a post-earnings call.