American electric car manufacturer Tesla has been forced to disable its much highlighted autopilot function in Hong Kong. The unique function was part of the features in Tesla’s model S cars, which it rolled out worldwide in October. The technology allows automatic lane-changing and effecting speed variations besides auto parking of the vehicle, assisted by radar, cameras and ultrasonic sensors.

While Hong Kong’s Transport Department approved the autoparking capability, it refused to approve other functions.

Penalty for auto pilot

The fallout of the order is that any driver who activates Tesla’s auto-steering or auto-lane change in the Hong Kong city will be prosecuted despite the nod fiven for auto-parking.

“To ensure we comply with Hong Kong regulations, we will be temporarily turning off these two functions on all model S cars in Hong Kong effective immediately,” Tesla announced, reports The South China Morning Post.

CEO Elon Musk in his tweet had exclaimed that feature.

Demand for electric cars

Adoption of electric cars has been rapid in Hong Kong and its residents are big fans of Tesla, adds the SCMP report. The city has more than 3,000 electric cars, in which two-thirds are Teslas.

In October, Tesla released version 7.0 of the Model S software, boosting the vehicle’s self-driving capabilities. Still it advised Tesla owners to keep their hands on the wheel while the function is on.

“Tesla requires drivers to remain engaged and aware when Autosteer is enabled,” the company counselled.

The action of Hong Kong authorities reportedly flows from the concerns understood from videos that showed Tesla Model S drivers in the U.S. facing risky behavior from the car’s self-driving options.

In one video, a Tesla Model S reportedly jerks to the right with the driver being taken off the single-track. In another one, a Model S is seen auto-steering into the incoming traffic and trying to veer away to the opposite side, the Biz Journals report observed.

At the same time, Wired magazine reported the bravado of a set of drivers who used the Model S and used auto steer capability to the hilt in driving their car across the country in two-and-a-half days. The trio took 57 hours for coast-to-coast drive and returned to New York unhurt. The driving team used autopilot almost 96 percent and they cruised at speeds up to 90 miles per hour.

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