My Tesla Model X has arrived!
Hurricane Irma has arrived!
Irma wins and so my car is stored away in an undisclosed and safe location as the dealer personnel went home to prepare their homes or evacuate. I don’t blame them. I did the same, shuttering the windows and securing the odds and ends. Then we waited.
Anxious and excited are often interchanged in use but they are opposites. I have been excited for the delivery of my car with all of its innovations and safety. This feeling of positive anticipation is the opposite of the negative anticipation of anxiety in not knowing the outcome of this future and possibly tragic weather event. Waiting for either seems to last forever and relief from waiting can’t come soon enough.
The hurricane thankfully did little property damage at our home and our generator supplied electricity worked flawlessly until power was restored 3 days later.
The wait for the Tesla remains because I needed to get back on the road visiting horse farms with my diesel powered GMC pick up truck.
This week I have read about Tesla in the news. First, the US Congress passed a bill approving self driving cars in the country thus overriding the patchwork of states regulating this condition. However, the Senate will also need to pass a similar bill and then it will need to be signed by the President. This will rapidly advance the ability of Teslas to have autonomous driving in the US.
On the other hand, the National Traffic and Safety Board released their findings of the fatal Tesla crash involving a man from Ohio. They determined that the driver over-relied on the ability of the car to recognize the left turning truck entering the path of the speeding Tesla. He had a full 10 seconds to react and avoid the crash but the driver did nothing. Even the family of the deceased would not blame Tesla. However, the board went on to say that what is available now in the car is not good enough for safety. Specifically the requirement that the driver return his hands to the wheel every 60 seconds. They suggested another camera installed to recognize that the driver’s eyes are on the road while driving. This makes sense.
Whether I can self drive or not is not my concern. Just this week I have had 2 near miss accidents while driving the truck – both avoidable with the safety technology in the car. For this reason I am both anxious and excited for the end of the month when I finally take delivery.