TESLA’S NEW “MAD MAX” AUTOPILOT MODE

In June, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the Autopilot system on the company’s Semi truck would feature three settings for lane changes: “Standard,” “Aggressive,” and “Mad Max.”

Now it turns out the Semi isn’t the only Tesla vehicle getting a Mad Max option — the company has included it in the Autopilot Version 9 update it’s currently rolling out to all Tesla vehicles. One driver has posted two videos online of Mad Max mode in action on the freeway.

In two videos posted to YouTube, a Tesla driver going by the name Jasper Nuyens shared about 10 minutes of footage taken from behind the wheel of a Tesla with Mad Max mode enabled.

In the clips, you can see the Tesla autonomously navigate the mostly-deserted freeway and overtake a truck. Aside from that, though, the clips mostly just feature the effusive narration of Nuyens and video of the Tesla plowing straight ahead.

It’s not exactly the adrenaline-pumping action you’d expect from a car bearing the Mad Max moniker, but Nuyens seems impressed in the clips, thanking Elon Musk for adding the feature.

Nuyens does note that Mad Max mode isn’t yet perfect. “I noticed that one time it wanted to change lanes to the non-existing lane — the security lane, basically — and to a closed off lane,” he said in the video.

Like any true Teslaphile, though, Nuyens doesn’t see this “viewing non-lanes as lanes” situation as a major problem, noting that drivers will just need to pay extra attention. So, while “Mad Max” mode won’t channel Charlize Theron as Furiousa quite yet, it just might keep you alert while you’re behind the wheel.

 

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