A 37-year-old man, Joshua Neally, in the United States has claimed that his Tesla Model X car saved his life by driving him to a local hospital after he suffered from a pulmonary embolism, which had created a deadly obstruction of a blood vessel in his lungs.
The man, who had activated the autopilot system to take a call while driving, soon felt a pain and stiffening in his abdomen. As soon as he switched to autopilot, the car took him to a hospital in Missouri, which was more than 20 miles from his then position at Highway 68.
Neally said his car took him to a hospital, instead of pulling over and waiting for an ambulance to reach the spot. He said he was driving from his office in Springfield to his residence when the incident took place.
"It was kind of scary. I called my wife and told her 'something is wrong', as I couldn't breathe and was gasping, kind of hyperventilating, I just knew I had to get to the ER (emergency room)," said the 37-year-old.
In the past, the Tesla CEO claimed that nearly 500,000 people have died in car accidents in the US in 2015, some of whom could have been saved if the Tesla Autopilot system was commonly available.
So far, Tesla Motors' Autopilot system has been receiving negatives reviews due to several mishaps and accidents.
Tesla Motors introduced its Autopilot feature in December 2015. The company uses a Firmware 7.1 Autopilot system which can only engage in driving when the car is travelling below the posted speed limit. The system also enables drivers to use Autopilot in parking assistance with a technology known as Summon.