Tesla Cybercab draws concern from Texas fire department over lack of steering wheel

The fire department in Austin, Texas, said Tuesday that it has concerns that Tesla’s new Cybercab could block city streets because the unusual self-driving car does’nt have a steering wheel or other traditional human controls that firefighters would use to move it in an emergency.“The lack of driver controls, (no ‘pedals’ or steering wheel) can be problematic,” the department told NBC News in a statement, five days after Tesla began putting the vehicle into service for the first time as part of an autonomous taxi fleet in Austin.In an interview, fire Capt.Matthew McElearney said that Tesla has provided training to the city’s firefighters and other first responders about how to move the Cybercab using a touchscreen on its dashboard but that the technology is unproven and that he doesn’t know how well it will work in the field if, for example, a Cybercab is blocking a fire engine.“I don’t think it’s the silver bullet to alleviating the concerns first responders have with not having driver’s controls,” he said.He said he thought the touchscreen could fail a firefighter in an emergency situation in numerous ways, mentioning possible scenarios including gloved hands, sweat, dust, the possibility of the screen’s being cracked or a lack of power.“Obviously, it has some drawbacks,” he said.

“You need power to do that.It does have some limitations on speed.

And it does require a little bit of, I would say, training or maybe some finesse to operate.”McElearney said he’s not aware of any Austin emergency workers’ having to move a Cybercab in the vehicle’s first few days of deployment, and he emphasized that firefighters have multiple options — including floor jacks and wheeled dollies — to move any vehicle in an emergency.Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.Tesla is rolling out the Cybercab in Austin after a launch event last week at which it presented the stripped-down vehi...