Foolish people aren’t always easy to spot, and other times they get caught on film driving a Tesla while wearing an Apple Vision Pro VR headset. Two of the latest technologies in the hands of what appear to be very reckless people make both brands look terrible. Even U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took the opportunity to point out the obvious danger of such behavior.
Apple recently launched its $3,499 Vision Pro VR headset, but some customers are already misusing it. Videos have surfaced online showing individuals using the headset while driving. It’s worth nothing that the Apple Vision Pro VR headset does feature a “pass-through” mode that enables users to see the real world around them while using it.
Despite the “pass-through” mode, Apple provides clear instructions to its Vision Pro VR headset owners, instructing them not to use it while “operating a moving vehicle, bicycle, heavy machinery, or in any other situations requiring attention to safety.”
That didn’t stop at least one person in a Cybertruck from using it as another motorist recorded the incident while driving by. “We really in the end times,” their subsequent tweet read. Yeah, that might be true considering just how stupid this type of behavior really is.
Read: Gloss Purple Tesla Cybertruck Looks Better Than You’d Expect
Take away the fact that it’s a person driving with a VR headset and consider this. How did they not consider the likelihood that people would catch them as they drove perhaps the most flashy vehicle on the road right now? Somehow, the second person caught doing this might be even less intelligent because they recorded and released the video themselves.
That person is Dante Lentini, who does not appear to be a comedian or entertainer. He told Quartz that this video was a “skit” he made with his friends and clarified that despite what he portrayed in the brief clip, he was not actually arrested.
“[I] was in the right place at the right time,” he told Quartz. “That’s why we filmed the police.”
Basically, he filmed the police on unrelated duties to create the false appearance that he had been arrested for his VR headset stunt.
It’s one heck of a skit to do it with what appears to be actual traffic just to the left of his car in the clip. He claims that he only drove with the headset for less than a minute. Thank goodness nothing can go wrong in under 60 seconds.
Many news platforms have lambasted Tesla specifically for these incidents. It’s evident that the automaker continues to advance its semi-autonomous driving technology despite calls for caution. However, there’s nothing in either video to suggest that a person couldn’t do this sort of thing in any vehicle with adaptive cruise control and lane-centering technology.
Say what you will about Tesla, but would any of us feel better about this if the drivers were behind the wheel of a Hyundai Santa Cruz? First, we’d be shocked at even spotting a real Santa Cruz in the wild but then we’d all still be upset at the reckless action of a complete idiot.
Hopefully, both of these folks learn their lesson one way or another. No doubt, their actions have caught a lot of attention, including from Buttigieg who posted about the Cybertruck driver specifically. As he also points out, no vehicle (from any brand) is capable of fully autonomous driving.