![Canadian police charge Tesla driver who was allegedly asleep at the wheel at 90 mph Canadian police charge Tesla driver who was allegedly asleep at the wheel at 90 mph](https://morningtopnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/200918090237-restricted-canada-tesla-charge-scli-intl-super-tease-768x432.jpg)
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said it received a complaint of a car speeding near Ponoka, Alberta at around 4 pm on July 9.
The vehicle was traveling at more than 140 km (86.9 miles) per hour, with both front seats “completely reclined and both occupants appearing to be asleep,” the RCMP said.
When a police officer approached the vehicle with emergency lights the Tesla “automatically began to accelerate” to 150 km (93.2 m) per hour, the RCMP said.
After pulling him over, the officer charged the driver, who is from British Columbia, with speeding and suspended his license for 24 hours. After further investigation, police charged him with dangerous driving and he is summoned to appear in court in December.
“Although manufacturers of new vehicles have built in safeguards to prevent drivers from taking advantage of the new safety systems in vehicles, those systems are just that — supplemental safety systems,” Superintendent Gary Graham of Alberta RCMP Traffic Services said. “They are not self-driving systems, they still come with the responsibility of driving.”
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.
While Autopilot can keep the vehicle in a highway lane and maintain distance from traffic, it is not a fully autonomous system and still requires driver oversight.
Last year, a 50-year-old man died in a car crash after switching from manual mode to Autopilot, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
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