A man in Canada accidentally unlocked and drove a Tesla Model 3 that did not belong to him, thanks to an apparent software glitch.
Rajesh Randev of Vancouver, British Columbia, ended up spending an hour and a half in the wrong car and even picked up his children from school after he accessed another person’s Tesla Model 3 from his mobile phone.
Randev explained to Canada’s Global News the mistake occurred Tuesday when he was in a hurry and two vehicles of the same make and color were parked side by side.
As he was driving along, something peculiar occurred. Randev said he noticed a crack in his windshield that was not there before.
He also noted his phone charger was not where he generally keeps it.
“After, five, 10 minutes I got a text on my phone that said ‘Rajesh are you driving Tesla?'” Randev said.
The owner of the Tesla he was driving had realized the error and had texted to see if he was in possession of the vehicle. The person got the phone number from a document in Randev’s car.
Randev parked the car he was driving and discovered it had different wheels. He then called the person who had texted him, and they figured out what had happened.
“Apparently I found some glitch,” he said.
Still, after he had realized he was driving a car that was not his — which he was able to open and start using his phone — he got back in and it started right up again.
Randev went on and picked up his children from school in the other car, which had started twice with the wrong digital key.
Once he had concluded his errand, he returned to the site of his own vehicle.
“I was surprised how I was able to drive someone else’s car, by mistake, for an hour-and-a-half while his car was in his hand,” Randev told Global News.
He said the other Telsa owner found the incident funny and they shared a laugh over it.
Randev said he tried to report the incident to the police, but they took no action because no crime had been committed.
“We were both laughing, and I called the police as well,” Randev said. “The police said they have my statement but they cannot give me a file number because nothing happened, but if something does happen to let them know and they will investigate.”
He said he contacted Tesla about the glitch but had not heard back. Global News said it also reached out to Tesla multiple times but did not get a response.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
