Mahindra XUV700 occupants play Ludo and eat lunch while using ADAS: Is it safe? [Video]

Almost all carmakers are gradually starting to offer an ADAS suite of advanced safety features with semi-autonomous systems intended to make your drives easier. However, many people are already finding loopholes and misusing such systems for their entertainment. We have come across a recent such example, in which a person is driving his Mahindra XUV700 after completely leaving control of the steering wheel and sitting on its roof, while it is in motion.

In a YouTube video uploaded by Nikhil Rana, we can see a person driving his blue-coloured Mahindra XUV700 with the ADAS engaged. However, what’s disturbing here to see is the person has left control of the steering wheel of the XUV700 and he is seen sitting on its roof, while the XUV700 is in motion with the adaptive cruise control and other systems of ADAS on. The person is seen dancing and showing his antics on the roof of the XUV700, with the SUV in motion.

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The entire video was captured and uploaded by that person on his social media account, to gauge public attention and ‘likes’ on social media. However, many people have started criticizing the person for his foolish and unsafe antics while driving on a public road. While the highway on which the XUV700 is seen being ‘driven’ by the person looks not so congested, losing control of the vehicle completely and sitting on its roof is extremely dangerous, for which people have started calling out the person in the video. Many have started demanding strict action against that person so that no other person dares to perform such dangerous stunts on public roads.

Repeated misuse

This is not the first time that the ADAS feature of the vehicles is being misused by their owners. In the recent past, we have seen several examples in which people are seen engaging the ADAS feature on and doing other things in the car, like playing ludo, eating food and even sleeping. Doing such antics while driving is dangerous not only for the driver and other occupants of that vehicle but also for other motorists nearby that vehicle.

Carmakers are offering Level-1 and Level-2 ADAS functions in India, which allow people to have a semi-autonomous driving experience with the vehicle taking partial control of its movement. These features have been introduced to make your driving experience easier and safer, but their misuse can put drivers and other occupants in such vehicles in danger.

Similar reports from Tesla owners

In many instances, we have seen several Tesla drivers engaging in similar activities. Tesla cars offer fully autonomous systems and drivers take advantage by watching movies and doing many things that they might not have done with the steering wheel in their hands.

Such driving can be dangerous on public roads. While many countries have rules for autonomous cars, there are no such rules in India yet. We hope that with the growing breed of such autonomous and semi-autonomous cars on Indian roads, the government will make new laws to address the problems.

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