According to The Washington Post, the world’s first ‘Tesla baby’ was born this September when Pennsylvania, U.S., resident Yiran Sherry gave birth to her daughter in the front passenger seat of a black Tesla Model 3 after rush hour made a 20-minute ride to Paoli Hospital much longer.
Yiran was crouched over in the front passenger seat, trying to cope with the pain of her contractions which were becoming more and more frequent, when she decided to start pushing.
“I was initially trying to hold it, but halfway through I was thinking: Should I push?” she said. “From TV or movies, I thought maybe I should push. … I should’ve realized she would come.”
With their 3-year-old son, Rafa, in the back seat, Keating Sherry, Yiran’s husband, enabled Autopilot — a toned-down version of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta that can be engaged on public roads to autonomously navigate, matching the speed of other vehicles on the road and braking whenever needed.
Leaving his left hand on the steering wheel allowed Keating to offer his right for Yiran to squeeze in pain as she went through labor right next to him in the Tesla, with Autopilot taking care of the driving.
The couple focused on their breathing, pulling from Yiran’s background as a yoga instructor. The soon-to-be mother of two occasionally glanced over at the car’s navigation to see how far they were from the hospital.
By the time the family reached Paoli Hospital, the baby had already made its way into the world. Doctors cut the umbilical cord right in the front seat of the Tesla before wheeling Yiran and the baby into the building to check on them both.
“I was anticipating a nice day at the hospital,” Keating, 34, said in an interview. “This one, it was a shock.”
Both mother and daughter are healthy and doing well. The couple decided to name their baby daughter Maeve, and Keating actually pushed for giving her the middle name ‘Tess’ as a nod to her automotive birthplace. The possibility was vetoed by Yiran, however.
