Tesla’s flashy gold Cybercabs are rolling out to the streets of Austin, their butterfly doors glowing under the Texas Sun. The city’s firefighters, however, have one small quibble with the new self-driving vehicle: there’s no steering wheel.
In an interview with NBC, Austin Fire Department chief Matthew McElearney expressed concerns that the Cybercab’s manual controls are tied to the on-board touchscreen. Should first responders have to move a Cybercab during an emergency, the infamously finicky nature of car touchscreens could present a challenge.
“Obviously, it has some drawbacks,” McElearney said of the car’s touchscreen controls. “You need power to do that. It does have some limitations on speed. And it does require a little bit of, I would say, training or maybe some finesse to operate.”
As the chief told NBC, there are any number of real-world scenarios where a touchscreen just won’t do, like incidents where responders are wearing gloves, are covered in dust or sweat, or if the vehicle is damaged or lacks power.
“What I would not want is for somebody to put their fingertips on it and try to slowly roll it, and then it zigs when it’s supposed to zag,” McElearney continued.
Though Cybercabs present the most recent challenge, the chief likewise expressed concerns around vehicles by Tesla rivals like Zoox and Waymo. In the end, he says it shouldn’t be up to the companies on whether to design their vehicles with a steering wheel, but on federal regulators to demand it.
“We need the feds to step up to the plate on this,” McElearney concluded. “I know the administration is very pro-technology, but we also need to be pro-doing it the right way — not just to beat somebody to the autonomous punch.”
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