Tech

Elon Musk demonstrates Tesla's ability to talk to pedestrians

"Well, don't just stand there staring, hop in."

Bloomberg/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Elon Musk has released a short clip demonstrating how Tesla vehicles will talk to pedestrians. In it, a passing Model 3 calls out "Well, don't just stand there staring, hop in" as a pre-recorded message.

This provides a glimpse of additional applications for speakers likely being prepared to meet regulations that require electric vehicles to make an alert tone for pedestrians while driving under 18.6 mph. Other uses could include vocal warnings while backing up or perhaps even a verbal lashing if someone tries to steal your car. A tweet responding to another user teased the possibility of the latter. For now, it's unclear if the feature will solely utilize pre-recorded messages or allow drivers to speak through the speaker.

The line from Tesla — A spokesperson from the company told Roadshow that Musk's tweet "is the extent of what we're sharing right now, though the CEO did say Teslas will also be able to 'fart in [pedestrians'] general direction.'" That's not one, but two confirmations of an official fart feature. There's no way that could get old approximately one day after launch, right?