Tesla is Being Investigated for Its (Allegedly) Law-Breaking ‘Mad Max’ Self-Driving Mode

Turns out, the computer program named after a dystopia might actually be dangerous.

By Braden Bjella

Published 1 week ago in Wtf

Tesla’s vehicles now offer two different flavors of “self-driving.” Neither of them actually drive the car by itself (that would make too much sense), but they can keep the vehicle in its lane, turn corners and maintain speed — as long as the driver occasionally jumps in to prevent the car from ramming into a wall.


When activating the feature, the Tesla vehicle asks how you want the car to behave. The first option is “sloth,” which stays in the lane and accelerates only to match the speed of traffic. The second option is “Mad Max,” which, according to Tesla itself, launches the car “through traffic at an incredible pace, all while still being super smooth.”


You might be thinking, “Isn’t that dangerous?” Well, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) certainly thinks it might be. After countless reports of Tesla vehicles running through stop signs or turning into oncoming traffic while in self-driving mode, the NHTSA is now demanding more information about the company’s self-driving modes — and, more specifically, the aforementioned “Mad Max” mode, per ArsTechnica.


“Tesla is deliberately programming cars to exceed speed limits and drive aggressively, putting everyone on our roads at risk,” said Brett Schreiber, founding partner at a law firm that recently won a lawsuit against Tesla over its self-driving mode. “This ‘Mad Max’ rollout is the latest iteration of Tesla’s preference for aesthetics and sales over safety, and I urge regulators to take action to prevent this technology from being unleashed.”

Scroll Down For More