Tesla Owner Claims Car Was Acting Like A ‘Drunk Driver’ On Autopilot: Here’s What Happened

An owner of a Tesla (TSLA) Model 3 claimed that the electric car performed so poorly using the autopilot feature that it acted like a “drunk novice driver,” prompting the owner to sue the automaker to buy back the EV.

A judge from the Darmstadt Regional Court in Germany ordered Tesla to buy back the Model 3 for $76,000 from the unhappy vehicle owner, according to Electrek.

Tesla has appealed the court’s decision, contending that the autopilot problems could have been relieved with a software upgrade free of charge, German news outlet Spiegel reported.

The complaint, according to Spiegel, alleged that the owner of the Model 3 paid nearly $7,000 for the autopilot function, which they claimed “did not work.”

The plaintiff said that, “The steering behavior at entrances and exits or motorway junctions is spongy and resembles that of a ‘drunk novice driver,’ ” adding that it did not recognize traffic lights and stop signs, according to Spiegel.

The autopilot feature is now a standard feature on every new Tesla vehicle that provides traffic-aware cruise control and autosteering, which CEO Elon Musk has maintained requires the driver of the vehicle to remain attentive behind the wheel of the car when it is in autonomous mode.

Tesla also has a Full Self-Driving option, which is a step above autopilot that has an added price tag of $10,000 or $199 per month in the U.S. It also includes auto lane change and smart summon.

In Europe, the Full Self Driving function is unable to utilize its full capacity as local traffic regulations prohibit some features, the New York Post said. The FDS is expected to debut in its beta version in Europe later this year, according to Electrek.

Musk has said the Full-Service Driving is “not great” in its beta version, but the company is working to improve it as quickly as possible, the New York Post reported.

Tesla said that it is not aware of any hardware or software issues with the Model 3 vehicles, Inside EVs reported.

As of Friday premarket hours, shares of Tesla were trading at $1,081.90, up $4.40, or 0.4%.