Stop wearing Vision Pro glasses while driving your Tesla, US says
Videos shared on social media this week show an almost dystopian, futuristic scene: drivers of Teslas in Autopilot mode while wearing Apple Vision Pro headsets, seemingly oblivious to the road ahead.
The videos prompted federal transportation officials to issue warnings.
But do people really mindlessly drive around in Teslas in Autopilot mode, wearing Apple's futuristic new glasses? Or is it all just a little bit? Are you part of an endless cycle of people doing crazy things for clicks, likes, views and influence?
The new glasses have a feature that merges digital apps and the environment into one immersive space, and videos of people wearing them in strange environments have been popping up on the internet since their release on February 2.
Some of the videos shot in cars appear to be staged, and in many videos it is clear that someone other than the driver is recording. The videos are not widely distributed. Still, they seemed foolhardy enough for Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, to weigh in on social media.
“Reminder: ALL advanced driver assistance systems available today require the human driver to be in control and fully involved in the driving task at all times.” Mr. Buttigieg said in a post on X with a video of a driver using a headset in what appeared to be a Tesla Cybertruck pickup.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NSA) also agreed on Tuesday. The agency said in a statement that “driving with a VR headset is reckless and disregards the safety of everyone on the road.”
Dante Lentini, 21, who has a video of himself behind the wheel of a moving Tesla while wearing a Vision Pro headsetsaid in an interview: “It was all just for content.”
In the video, Mr. Lentini appears to be typing while wearing the headset, while introspective piano music plays in the background.
“Think differently,” Lentini wrote on X, with an obvious nod to a famous Apple advertising campaign from the late 1990s. His video has been viewed more than 24 million times. (One commenter wrote: 'I really hope you get arrested for this.')
Later in the video, Mr. Lentini appears to have been pulled over in a parking lot, and there are police vehicles in the background with their lights on. The way the video was edited suggests that Mr Lentini was stopped for driving while wearing the headset.
But Mr. Lentini said in the interview that police were responding to something else in the area at the time, and that he and someone else recorded it at the “right time, at the right time.”
He also said that despite how it appears in the video, he didn't have any apps enabled in the headset and he only wore it for about 30 seconds.
“That was just for the video,” he said.
Videos and images circulating on social media not only show people driving while wearing the Vision Pro headset, but also while driving dining in restaurants And training in the gym.
Is this the future? A world where people cannot step away from the digital world long enough to focus solely on everyday tasks such as socializing or exercising?
Eric Decker, a YouTube and TikTok creator who goes by the name Airrack, posted one video he jokes about an “average day for an Apple Vision Pro owner,” showing him wearing the headset while lifting weights at the gym, getting his hair cut, going through airport security, going through the walking down the street and even taking a shower. (The Vision Pro is not waterproof.)
“I really feel like most of these videos are skits,” Mr. Lentini said. “You can just tell.”
Still, sketch or not, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday that distracted driving is no joke. In 2021, more than 3,500 people were killed in crashes involving distracted driving in the United States and more than 360,000 people were injured, the agency said.
“There are currently no fully autonomous vehicles for sale,” the agency said.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Apple declined to comment on the videos, but did reference them safety guidelines on its website on how to properly use Vision Pro.
“Never use the device while operating a moving vehicle, bicycle, heavy machinery, or in other situations requiring attention to safety,” the company says.
Mr Lentini said the Vision Pro headset has a driving mode feature intended for passengers that disables the use of many apps.
Apple announced Vision Pro as a “spatial computing device” that will allow users to watch videos, send emails and surf the web in an immersive virtual reality. The headsets start at $3,499.