Tesla parental controls keep teenage lead feet in check

Where I qualified, there’s a mandatory speed limit of 45mph on all roads (even motorways) a year after qualifying. When I was finally free of this I had absolutely zero respect for why speed can be dangerous and how. The rules had created the incredibly dangerous combination of experience driving but no experience driving at speed, and teenager brain.

Shackles off, I drove at 60mph on country roads. It was always fine! Just like when I did 45mph everywhere!

Until it rained, and at a tight corner I nearly wrapped myself around a tree.

I didn’t fully appreciate the speeds I was going to be doing because I never was trained at them. I had no idea how it actually felt and how to understand when I could use speed and when I could lay off, because the limit was there.

It was so suffocating that I never really experienced understeer or circumstances where I was in danger, because the mollycoddled experience hid me from understanding what those dangers are and how to anticipate and prevent them.

Limiting speed is an answer, but I don’t really think it’s a good answer. The most dangerous crashes (rural) will still happen and be easily fatal at 70mph.

Trainee pilots will get put in dangerous feeling situations all the time; the instructor can put the plane into a stall or a dive - a terrifying situation that you should never put yourself in in the first place - and teach you how to recover.

I always thought driving instruction could do with something like that, because while learning to recover a plane is a lesson in and of itself, experiencing that sinking feeling and imagining it in circumstances where you’re under less control is a crucial lesson and disincentive.

Instead, youths experience that lesson when they see a rapidly approaching tree or brick wall instead of a tire wall.

Ford has had this ability on many of their cars for years. It’s called MyKey. You can program a keyfob so the car has various limits and safety features can’t be disabled.

Seems like a nice system. I was surprised I’d never heard about it until I bought a Ford and found it in the manual.

I wonder if any other manufacturers have something similar.

https://www.ford.com/support/how-tos/keys-and-locks/mykey/my...

I'm a Tesla-owning parent whose first child will be receiving their license in a few months. And... this is cute, but I think most of its value is in marketing via press hits like this (which push "High Tech Gadget-filled Supercar" narrative). Actual driving safety is a boring and fairly well-understood problem. And if a kid can get in trouble in the family minivan or crossover (and they absolutely can) they can in a settings-crippled Model S too.

As far as real policy goes: he'll be driving the 12-year-old minivan primarily for the first year or so. Not because of genuine safety concerns (he's actually a pretty cautious kid) but just because new drivers get in a lot of wrecks and we'd rather that happen in the car that's cheaper to fix and easier to replace.

As a father of an about to be 16 year old, this is a very welcome and potentially life saving feature. I was already considering a Tesla for my next vehicle, but this makes it all the more appealing.

Asked for this 5 years ago, nice to see it finally implemented! https://x.com/matheweis/status/1109106624612859904