Tesla driver stranded in the desert after smartphone app failure

[CaseyJones]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...e-app-failure/

A Tesla driver was stranded in Red Rock Canyon near Las Vegas after the car's keyless control app suddenly stopped working.

Interested in testing a feature that lets Tesla owners unlock and power their car using their smartphone, Ryan Negri decided to leave his keys at home when he went for a drive around the canyon yesterday.

The keyless smartphone feature, which is available through Tesla's iPhone and Android apps, lets users remotely monitor and control their Tesla Model S without their key. One of the main features of the app is the ability to "unlock and drive Model S without your key".

Negri was able to do just this - but only to begin with. After getting out of the vehicle to adjust something when he was six miles from home he found himself locked out of the car unable to get back in let alone start it.

"Six miles down the road we decided to turn back, but before that, had to adjust Mozy & Millie's car bed, so I exited the vehicle...bad idea," Negri said on Instagram. "Need to restart the car now, but, with no cell service, my phone can't connect to the car to unlock it."

What Negri didn't know before leaving the house without his keys was that the feature requires the owner's phone to have signal. Without signal it is unable to connect to Tesla's servers to unlock or start the car.

While wireless key technology is fairly common, smartphone car control is still a fairly new concept. Negri said he should have taken his keys as a precaution but also criticised Tesla for not having a contingency plan in such cases.

To save the family from being stranded in the desert all night, Negri's wife had to run two miles to find signal and call a friend to bring the key fob. Had they driven further into the canyon when the problem arose it could have been more difficult for them to get home.

[Slave Mentality]

"What Negri didn't know before leaving the house without his keys was that the feature requires the owner's phone to have signal. Without signal it is unable to connect to Tesla's servers to unlock or start the car."

Just goes to show that there is no real connection between intelligence and personal income.

[oyarde]

LOL , guy thought his cell would work in bum$#@! , get a real car .

[angelatc]

Real cars break down in the desert, too. If he had simply locked himself out, we woudn't be reading this.

[oyarde]

Driving around in sub zero weather and in the desert is serious business . Probably need to be a little prepared . I would say overall he was lucky to be only 6 miles from home , go two miles get a signal , pretty fortunate.

[Created4]

Just goes to show that there is no real connection between intelligence and personal income.

Yeah, and if he can control his car from his smart phone, so can others.

[fisharmor]

I remember in the early 90s, I liked driving American cars because they nickel and dimed you, and occasionally needed $100 in repairs, but the Japanese cars would give you a false sense of security and then WHAM two grand to get it back on the road.

I like knowing in advance I have to make a $100 repair every two months, as opposed to unexpectedly getting my life threatened by a microchip, which is why I still drive a 90s American car.

[Anti Federalist]

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Outside of company issue, I have never owned a cell phone and hope to never own one. Never texted in my life. Can you hear that, mother f*ckers?*








*Not that they care what some lone nutjob thinks.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

...which is why I still drive a 90s American car.

Cool; I have a Roadmaster from the 1990s.

And "I'm an excellent d-d-driver."

[pcosmar]

wow

a bad idea made worse.

and for our next act,,,

[Anti Federalist]

wow

a bad idea made worse.

and for our next act,,,

So what is wrong with us: that we see this bad idea for what it is...and so many other examples, yet the mass of our fellow citizens trample each other in their eagerness to pay for this crap? They can't enough and demand more and more.

I know this is a rhetorical question and one I already have the answer to, but honestly, is freedom, independence and privacy really that unpopular?

[jllundqu]

Morons gonna moron

[fisharmor]

I know this is a rhetorical question and one I already have the answer to, but honestly, is freedom, independence and privacy really that unpopular?

I think there are just an uncomfortable number of people who judge themselves and others not by what they have accomplished, but by what associated others have accomplished.

The USA is the best country in the world, not because its citizens are capable of so much, but because "we" can lick any other country.
My city's football team is better than your city's football team.
I bought an iPhone 7, and you're still using a 5.
Behold my Audi A8 / Prius / dually F350 with the Eddie Bauer package / Tesla S. It's cooler than your car.

[Jamesiv1]

Morons gonna moron

lol

I prefer the long 'o' variation:

Mōrons gonna mōron

[bunklocoempire]

Phone don't getcha home.

[Anti Federalist]

I think there are just an uncomfortable number of people who judge themselves and others not by what they have accomplished, but by what associated others have accomplished.

The USA is the best country in the world, not because its citizens are capable of so much, but because "we" can lick any other country.
My city's football team is better than your city's football team.
I bought an iPhone 7, and you're still using a 5.
Behold my Audi A8 / Prius / dually F350 with the Eddie Bauer package / Tesla S. It's cooler than your car.

That would explain my bafflement I suppose: I have never in my life followed fashion or consumption trends.

The only brief times in over 40 years as an adult, I have ever been "hip" and "with it" is when my tastes or needs intersected with the pop culture zietgiest.

And those instances have been very rare.

[dannno]

That would explain my bafflement I suppose: I have never in my life followed fashion or consumption trends.

The only brief times in over 40 years as an adult, I have ever been "hip" and "with it" is when my tastes or needs intersected with the pop culture zietgiest.

And those instances have been very rare.

They also don't seem to last long *cough*Jetta*cough*