--- title: "Gaze in Horror at This Guy Wearing a VR Headset While Driving" description: "A viral video shows a driver dangerously wearing an Apple Vision Pro headset while cruising hands-free in a full self-driving Tesla." date: "2024-02-05" modified: "2024-02-05" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/apple-vr-driving-tesla" categories: - "Future Society" - "Virtual Reality" tags: - "apple" - "augmented reality" - "headset" - "vision pro" --- # Gaze in Horror at This Guy Wearing a VR Headset While Driving ![A viral video shows a driver dangerously wearing an Apple Vision Pro headset while cruising hands-free in a full self-driving Tesla.]() *\Image: Michael M. Santiago via Getty / Futurism\* Over the weekend, a video of a guy getting pulled over wearing a [freshly released Apple Vision Pro headset]() while cruising down a highway in a Tesla with "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) engaged [went viral on X-formerly-Twitter](). And though the guy in the video, a 21-year-old software developer named Dante Lentini, *definitely* should have been pulled over regardless, we're not convinced that this clip wasn't a total stunt. In the video, Lentini is first seen, headset covering his eyes and behind the wheel of his Tesla as he uses both hands to allegedly flip through various augmented reality (AR) windows, swiping away at the air in front of him. A few seconds later, the camera pans to cops pulling up behind the Tesla **—** based on the video, it appears to be a Model Y **—** now stopped on the side of the road. "Think different," Lentini captioned the clip, "#applevisionpro." Users flocked to the comments section to mostly deride Lentini for engaging in clearly reckless behavior, save for a few seeming Tesla stanboys who tossed a lot of crying-laughing emojis into the video's replies. And again: stunt or not, Lentini one million percent should have been ticketed — after all, driving in the [really-not-self-driving vehicle]() without your hands on the wheel even violates *Tesla's* [policies](). But while we're not exactly surprised to see a video like this crop up, some testers have noted that the $3,500 Vision Pro doesn't actually work very well when the wearer is in a moving vehicle — and as such, this clip feels like dangerously staged rage-bait all the way through. https://twitter.com/lentinidante/status/1753549370568368224 Indeed, Lentini's video doesn't just go against Tesla's policies. As [*Gizmodo* points out](), the developer also violates several Apple safety warnings listed in the [Vision Pro User Guide](). For one thing, it warns that "Apple Vision Pro won't detect all obstacles or conditions" — two things that we can safely assume roadways to have. The guide further warns that "immersive experiences or loss of device power will block your ability to see," and later specifically urges users to "never use Apple Vision Pro while operating a moving vehicle, bicycle, heavy machinery, or in any other situations requiring attention to safety." "Apple Vision Pro is designed for use in controlled areas," reads the guide, "that are safe, on a level surface." So, in other words, a user throwing on their headset while behind the wheel of a moving video is Apple's nightmare. And though Tesla CEO Elon Musk has long touted FSD as a key piece of our eventual work-commute future, his vehicles are [nowhere near safe for drivers]() to take their eyes and hands off the wheel anytime soon — let alone safe enough for a hands-free driver to fiddle with distracting AR tech. Beyond the obvious safety concerns, though, it's unclear whether it's currently even possible for the Vision Pro to work effectively under driving conditions. As [noted by *Autoevolution*](), for a wearer to see out of the headset *at all,* the Vision Pro needs to be turned on. But while it's likely that the goggles were at least powered up, the question of whether Lentini was truly using the headset as suggested in the clip is doubtful. To wit: in a Vision Pro review video published to YouTube on Sunday, the YouTuber Casey Neistat [repeatedly remarks]() on how the Pro's AR "windows" will disappear when either the wearer or the vehicle they're in — in Neistat's case, he was on the subway — are moving. "While you're moving, this thing comes up that says ‘tracking fail," Neistat observes in the 10-minute-long video. "So it doesn’t track if you're moving a lot." And, well, if this thing doesn't work on the subway, we can't imagine it's all that functional on an obstacle-littered highway. (The Pro is [designed to work well on airplanes](), but that's a very stable environment compared to these other two types of travel.) Anyway. We can't believe we need to say this, but if you shelled out for a Vision Pro, please don't wear it while you're driving. And if the risk of injuring or harming yourself or others on the roadway isn't enough to dissuade you from hopping behind the wheel with your ski goggle-esque interface on, you might instead consider what it might do to your nearly $4,000 investment. As [one commenter wrote]() in Lentini's replies: "Know what an airbag would do to that glass?" Lentini, for his part, later [tweeted]() in response to some criticism that the event was "my bad." "Had a meeting," he added. **More on the Vision Pro:** [*Apple's Ludicrously Expensive VR Headset's Virtual Keyboard Is Apparently Useless*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()