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Anyone Interested in Driving a Tesla for Free?

December 18th, 2015  |  Canadian Business

Daniel Valadares, a tech consultant from Toronto, was looking for someone to keep him company on a road trip from Toronto to San Francisco. So, he posted an ad. The selling point? A chance to drive his Tesla S 85D for free.

Yes, according to the Toronto Star, Valadares not only invited perfect strangers to join him on a drive to the states, he also invited them to drive his $126,000 vehicle. While most car owners would worry about the risks of letting a random person drive their car, Valadares just wanted to share a very long ride with another traveller.

He got his wish. His ad prompted a slew of responses and he eventually picked one of those strangers, Henry Wong, a chartered accountant, to join him on his drive.

Needless to say, this wasn’t your average road trip. Aside from the unusual way in which Valadares recruited a co-driver, he also mapped his route according to the locations of free and accessible superchargers. Or rather, his Tesla mapped the route. His Tesla also calculated exactly how long it needed to stay at each supercharger.

In the words of Wong, the car’s autopilot feature also made for a more relaxing road trip, one where the driver didn’t have to devote his full attention to the road. Of course, what makes Valadares’ Tesla even more covetable is that it includes autonomous technology, which essentially allows the car to safely drive itself. 

Image Courtesy of Adobe Stock