Tesla’s mobile app apparently let an immigration consultant from Canada get into and drive someone else’s vehicle, according to a report from Global News.
Vancouver, B.C., resident Rajesh Randev claims the Tesla app on his phone gave him access to and let him drive a Tesla that wasn’t his.
Tesla owners can use the mobile app to lock and unlock their car from their phone, and also gain access to it as long as both their phone and the car are connected to the internet. It’s only supposed to work with the Tesla a person owns, however.
“Apparently I found some glitch,” said Randev. The other car was parked right next to Randev’s and was the same make and color as his own Tesla, leading led to the mix-up when he went to pick up his car and drive to his kids’ school on Tuesday.
Not only was Randev able to get into the other car with his phone, but he was also able to start it. Randev didn’t realize he was in someone else’s car until he noticed the windshield was cracked and his charger wasn’t in its usual spot.
“After, five, 10 minutes I got a text on my phone that said ‘Rajesh are you driving Tesla?'” The person who texted him told Randev that he was driving the wrong Tesla. Randev called the person, and they figured out what had happened. The other Tesla driver got Randev’s phone number from a document that was visible inside his car.
Randev continued to drive the wrong Tesla to pick his kids up from school, and then met up with the other person to set things right.
“We were both laughing and I called the police as well,” said Randev. He was unable to figure out how the Tesla app let him into another person’s car.
“I was surprised how I was able to drive someone else’s car, by mistake, for an hour-and-a-half while his car was in his hand,” he added.
Randev has reached out to Tesla with video evidence of the incident, but some of his emails bounced back and he is yet to hear back from the automaker.
Last year, a German teenager revealed he was able to hack into and gain “remote control” over 25+ Tesla cars in 13 countries. In that case, however, the hacker exploited security flaws that have since been patched.
