--- title: "Underage Teens Caught Joyriding Tesla, Claim It Was Driving Itself" description: "A pair of underage teens in Daytona Beach, Florida, got caught driving a Tesla Model Y on the wrong side of the road. Their excuse: it was driving itself." date: "2021-03-26" modified: "2021-03-26" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/underage-teens-caught-joyriding-tesla-claim-it-was-driving-itself" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "autopilot" - "Self-driving cars" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Underage Teens Caught Joyriding Tesla, Claim It Was Driving Itself ![A pair of underage teens in Daytona Beach, Florida, got caught driving a Tesla Model Y on the wrong side of the road. Their excuse: it was driving itself.]() *\Image: Tesla/Victor Tangermann\* ## On Autopilot A pair of underage teens in Daytona Beach, Florida, got caught driving a Tesla Model Y on the wrong side of the road. When a Flagler County Sherrif's deputy pulled over the vehicle, nobody was in the driver's seat. The 14 and 15-year old girls were in the back and front passenger seat, [*Electrek* reports](). Their excuse: the Tesla was driving itself. Needless to say, despite the carmaker's [arguably misleading]() "Full Self-Driving" name for the feature, Teslas cannot drive themselves and require somebody behind the wheel at all times. ## It Was the Car [According to the *Daytona Beach News-Journal*](), deputies later found out that one of the girls had been driving the car prior to putting it into Autopilot. Both of the juveniles' parents were contacted. Unsurprisingly, they had no idea about the joyride. According to the news outlet, the Model Y sustained $300 in damages. The driver was given a citation for driving without a license. "These kids are very lucky that no one was hurt and their actions didn’t have more serious consequences," Sheriff Rick Staly told the *News-Journal*. "It doesn’t matter if you are driving a ‘smart car’, driving without a license is still against the law." **READ MORE:** [Underage teen gets in Tesla’s back seat and claims it was self-driving after being pulled over by police]() \[*Electrek*\] **More on Autopilot:** *[Watch Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Mode Steer Toward Oncoming Highway Traffic]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()