Viral back-seat Tesla driver arrested, says he back-seat-Autopilot-ed home from jail

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A 25-year-old man who made headlines when he was filmed waving from the back seat of a Tesla Model 3 on Autopilot earlier this week has upped the ante on his own ignorant gamble by insisting he’ll continue to use the feature to illegally cruise around his California home with no one at the wheel, even after he was arrested. In fact, the dunce rode in the Tesla with Autopilot on his way home from jail and then bragged about it in a TV interview !  

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“I’m gonna go in the back seat right now. You feel me? I’m waiting for my car to charge,” Sharma told KTVU in a digital video interview. “I don’t drive and I don’t fill up gas. I am a gold-collar,” he said. 

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Viral back-seat Tesla driver arrested, says he back-seat-Autopilot-ed home from jail Back to video

Earlier this week, police arrested Sharma, charging him with two counts of reckless driving and giving him a free one-night stay in the Santa Rita Jail. He claims to have been picked up the next day by a Tesla-owning friend, who joined him in the back seat for the illegal ride home.

The human selfie stick also posted this video to Instagram, wherein he reads an online article about his arrest while doing the very thing he was arrested for. Why do I get the impression that this guy freestyle raps? 

When asked about the fatal accidents that have occurred with Tesla’s autopilot feature activated, Sharma told the Fox reporter he would simply use his God-given height to reach over the seat and grab the steering wheel. 

“I’ve been brake-checked before really hard and the car stopped. It came to a complete stop. Elon Musk really knows what he’s doing and I think people are just tripping and they’re scared.” 

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The Fox reporter graciously writes off Sharma’s position to youthful stubbornness, but I suspect this young man’s “gold collar” might be choking off the air supply to his brain. 

Sharma is set to appear in court early July, but with his promises to keep cruising around in the back seat of his Tesla, we won’t be surprised to hear about him again before that. He’s basically daring local police to catch him and take away his licence.  

Incidentally, you know what’d look great with that “gold collar”? A pair of shiny silver handcuffs.