Tesla drivers are getting a reminder to stay focused on the road, especially after videos of folks behind the wheel wearing Apple’s VR headset started making the rounds online. Pete Buttigieg, the US Transportation Secretary, took to X (you know, formerly Twitter) to stress that all cars, including Teslas, need the driver to stay on the ball “at all times.”
But hold up, one driver came clean and confessed that their video was just a prank. We’ve reached out to both Tesla and Apple for their take on the situation. Meanwhile, videos floating around online feature folks sitting in cars with autopilot, rocking the Apple headset over their eyes.
Pete Buttigieg reposted: “Reminder – ALL advanced driver assistance systems available today require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times.”
There’s another video making the rounds, and get this—it was posted on the same day the Apple Vision Pro went live to the public. It captures a guy seemingly getting pulled over by the cops while sporting the headset in a Tesla. But according to Gizmodo, he claims it was all just a “skit” he cooked up with his buddies. Apparently, he only “drove with the headset for 30-40 seconds.”
Apple’s guidebook makes it clear: don’t even think about using their headset while you’re driving. Meanwhile, Tesla’s stance is pretty straightforward too: drivers gotta stay in control and keep their eyes on the road, even if the car’s in autopilot mode.
As for the Apple Vision Pro headset, it hit shelves in the US on February 2nd, sporting a hefty price tag of $3,499. No word yet on when it’ll be available across the pond in the UK. Even though users can see through the glass in certain modes, using it while driving would seriously cramp your vision. The company’s been careful not to label it as virtual reality or anything like that. Instead, they’re calling it “spatial computing.”
“Don’t describe your app experience as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR), or mixed reality (MR),” Apple said in a blog post targeting developers.