Tesla’s upgraded Autopilot likened to ‘kid behind the wheel’

Consumer Reports said Tesla’s latest upgrade to itꦅs Autopilot s🔴ystem took it on a wild ride — claiming the electric-car maker’s software drives like “a kid behind the wheel.”

The product-review bible said Wednesday that the Navigate function on Tesla’s Autopilot — which Tesla says is meant to provide a “more seamless” driving experience by automatically changing lౠanes — raised “serious safety concerns.”

Consumer Reports’ testers found that the Autopilot system would sometimes pass on the right, and often would cut too clos🌠ely in front of othe🌄r vehicles.

“The fea♌ture cut off cars without leaving enough space and even passed other cars in ways that violate state laws,” Jake Fisher, the magazine’s director of auto testing, wrote. “As a result, the driver often had to prevent the system from making poor decisions.”

“It is rel🥃uctant to merge in heavy traffic, but when it does, it often immediately applies the brakes to create space behind the follow car — this can be a rude surprise to the vehicle you cut off,” Fisher added.

Indeed, whenever Navigate was deplꩵoyed, Fisher said he had to constantly monitor the car instead of beinꦛg able to relax.

“Using the system is like monitoring a ki♐d behind the wheel for the very first time,” Fisher said. “As any parent knows, it’s far more convenient and less stressful to simply drive yourself.”

In a statement to Consumer Reports, Tesla said that “it is the driver’s respo♍nsibility to remain in control of the car at all times, including safely executing lane changes.”

It is the latest indignity for Tesla’s Autopilot system, which earlier this month got press when an aspiring porn star made a viral video in which she had sex with he❀r boyfriಌend in the front seat of a Tesla while it was in self-driving mode.

Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board published a preliminary report finding that Autopilot was engaged in the moments before a fatal crash in March.

Tesl🌜a shares finished the day down 6%, at $192.73.