Tesla drivers say they have been blocked from their cars after an outage affected the automaker’s mobile app. Dozens of Tesla vehicle owners immediately posted on social media that they received an error message in the mobile app that prevented them from accessing and starting their cars.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded immediately and personally to a complaint from a Tesla driver in South Korea, and later posted a message on the social network Twitter claiming that the company’s research department was in checking what had happened to offer a solution as quickly as possible, and promised that the application would be operational again a few hours later.
Unable to start the car
Drivers use the Tesla app as a key to unlock and start their cars . Some of the affected owners published a multitude of complaints through different social networks and platforms, upset that they could not use their vehicles. “I’m trapped, an hour from home, because I normally use my phone to start my car,” one of those affected by the Tesla ruling tweeted.
About 500 users reported a bug in the app, according to outage tracker DownDetector. Five hours later, there were just over 60 bug reports, so Tesla had finally identified the problem and started trying to fix it. “We apologize, we will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure this does not happen again,” Elon Musk immediately tweeted.
Complaints from many drivers
However, the app is not the only way to access and start cars . As reported by the brand itself, in addition to the mobile phone, there is a secondary mechanism to enter or exit the car beyond the application, which can cause a serious problem if drivers do not carry the phone with them.
Technology makes things easier, but its correct operation depends on a server being always operational and never registering errors. It is the same as leaving home without credit cards, always trusting that you can pay for things with the bank’s mobile application. If at any time that application fails you will have a serious problem.
However, Tesla also bears part of the responsibility for this as, if you launch a mobile application that allows you to start the car, you should be concerned and make sure that the application works correctly every time , as drivers have a legitimate right to choose between if they want to start their car with the key or through the application, since Tesla has given them that option to choose. While a key can of course also be used to unlock the car, the natural instinct of many Tesla drivers, who are buying one of the most high-tech models on the market, is to rely on technology.
