A Tesla owner can’t believe what his car’s sensor picked up on camera. It spooked him.
TikTok user and Tesla owner Steven Vargas (@localrentonman) uploaded a video of the incident that’s garnered over 3.2 million views.
“My Tesla spotted something suspicious,” Vargas writes in a text overlay of his video, which is set to creepy music. He shows off the car’s large infotainment screen, along with its visualizer that utilizes its cameras to generate an approximation of the car’s surroundings.
Tesla sensor picks up suspicious figure
As he moves the generated image around on the screen, viewers can see several fixtures. There’s another car behind his Tesla, and it shows the walls he’s parked between. Strangely, behind a wall you can see an outline of what appears to be a man just standing directly behind a fence. He appears to be hugging it.
It looks like a scene straight out of a horror film. Why would anyone be waiting so close to the fence unless they were planning on popping out and getting the jump on an unsuspecting Vargas?
Maybe it could just be that the car’s system mistook some other shape and translated it as a human being. There are some people who believe that the car doesn’t necessarily make mistakes.
Recently, a Tesla driver went viral after spotting “ghosts” walking through a cemetery. They flipped out and began screaming upon seeing human figures ambling about in the graveyard. When they looked up from the screen and checked the real world, however, there was nothing there. Some people even recommend “ghost hunting in a Tesla” utilizing its cameras and sensors to see if ghosts can get picked up.
Inconsistencies with on-screen visualizations
Other Tesla drivers have noticed inconsistencies with their car’s on-screen visualizations. Like these folks in a Quora forum post where users mention some cars on the road showing up on screen but others not. Others report cars that look like they’re there but aren’t in real life.
And according to commenters who replied to Vargas’ post, it seems like a lot of Tesla owners have experienced the same issue. One woman said she gets a mini-heart-attack from time to time. She wrote, “Haha I hate when mine does this too especially when pulling into my garage when no one is home hahaha.”
Another replied that they believe this is a consequence of a recent software update. They wrote, “Since the update I always see a man in the garage !!”
“This last update has men standing in my garage and driveway all the time,” another echoed.
For some reason, one Tesla driver said their vehicle translates a McDonald’s drive-thru as an 18-wheeler. “Our Tesla always thinks the McDonald’s drive-thru is a semi truck,” they wrote.
Others complained about invisible trucks as well. The user wrote, “There’s always a diesel truck backing up in my garage with me lol.”
Why some Tesla owners left the brand
There are plenty of reasons why “reformed” Tesla owners will tell you to stay away from the car brand at all costs.
Some of the criticism appears valid, for example all of the things that went wrong with the Cybertruck launch. In other instances, folks argue that the issues are better blamed on driver error. Viral stories include Tesla owners failing to charge the battery soon enough or not getting the right tints for their car.
There are some unique benefits to getting a Tesla right out of the box. For one, the vehicles are equipped with multiple cameras situated all around the front of the vehicle, which allows you to put your whip in “sentry mode” and record everything that’s going on around the car.
Some random jerk feels like keying your car? Your whip’s surveillance system will pick it up. Get in an accident? Get a flash drive and stick it into your ride’s USB port and you’re going to be able to download all of that crash footage/data to the drive as well, which could be helpful for any documentation pertaining to your accident.
@localrentonman ♬ MARKING TIME, WAITING FOR DEATH – Shiro SAGISU
The Daily Dot reached out to Tesla via email and Vargas via TikTok comment for further information.
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