Inexplicably enough, some people tend to leave animals they claim to care about as ‘pets’ shut inside a car, under bright sun, sometimes for hours on end. EV maker Tesla tried to address this with a special idle car mode called the Dog Mode.
The Dog Mode maintains comfortable temperature in the car interior at all times while displaying “My owner will be back soon” on the center display for any concerned passers-by. Aside from looking clever, the feature has recently helped a Tesla driver avoid a hefty fine.
In June last year, a woman in Dublin, Ireland saw a poodle sitting alone in a closed car. The weather was hot, so she decided to stand by and wait for the owner to come back. Ten minutes later, she called the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which then contacted the police, who broke the glass and extracted the dog, apparently unharmed.
The car owner was not amused, to say the least, and said his poodle has been perfectly fine was along, since he activated the Tesla Dog Mode.
At the final court hearing that took place just a few days ago, the prosecution demanded contacting a technical expert for clarifying the situation, but the court chose to trust the dog owner’s testimony. The judge thanked the man for taking proper care after his dog and the woman for her active citizenship.
It remains unclear why none of the passers-by – or police officers, for that matter – noticed the Dog Mode message on the screen.