Dog mode coming soon

Actually we already have that. My wife tells me to "fetch"something from the store and I hop to it. I look for any excuse to drive the model 3.

I do expect to live long enough to see the Tesla "fetch" items from the store on it's own - groceries, prescriptions, etc. Many of the local grocery stores are now offering drive through grocery pickup. You place your order over the Internet and then drive over to pick them up. The day is not too far off that you will program the destination of the pickup into the Tesla and it will drive itself over and pick up the groceries. The FUTURE is at hand.

 

That is an Uber woman driver over a certain age driving a Tesla Model X. Auto-pilot is ... we'll leave to imaginations.

Bob Wilson

 

Change to ugly?

 

Is it legal anywhere? Why would you risk the safety of your pet in a hot car. What if the feature malfunctions?

 

THIS from a Prius driver !

 

THIS coming from someone posting with a personal computer!

 

It's legal in Alaska. I had no idea it was a law elsewhere. I and my girlfriend often have/had dogs hanging out in the cars all day, so they could be walked at lunch or whatever. Of course we make sure they are comfortable, windows open, parked in the shade if warm, water bowls in the car, and checked on as necessary. Lots of people, including skijoring friends even have things called dog trucks, doghouses on the back of trucks, used by mushers. It's never been close to being a problem from about 70 F even 80 F in the shade down to around 0 F, and a lot colder if not left for more than a couple hours.

I actually got my Prius in part because of car camping and "dog mode" and only realized in CA, that signs are necessary because people will see a perfectly comfortable, relaxed dog (no panting, etc.) in an air conditioned car and somehow think it's dying of heat exhaustion.

(Picture from 15 years ago of my first dog and her best friend, my GF's dog. After a ski, probably on the way to a grocery store. Still driving that car. )

 

California summers days are often in the 90’s f and low 100’s f so it a concern, as a vehicle can become an oven reaching 300 f at times. Because of this, unfortunately pets do die in vehicles in the summer months, and an even greater tragity are children who are left as well.

 

If it wasn't clear in my post, I'm well aware of how hot it can get in a car sitting on the CA sun. That's why I said " a perfectly comfortable, relaxed dog (no panting, etc.) in an air conditioned car", meaning that my Prius was on in the Ready mode with the air conditioning on as well as a visibly super comfortable, not at all distressed dog - still an onlooker was sure the dog was dying until I opened the door for her and let her feel the cold air coming out of the car.

 

I guess vehicles and A/C systems don’t break down.....it’s not a chance I would want to take.

 

I certainly would. That's why people have the ability to make judgments based on circumstances of a situation. For example, that one incident, I was going into a pet food store for 10 minutes max. No harm would occur if it even broke down the minute after I had walked away from the car. The main circumstances in CA where I would be doing this would be after driving somewhere to go for a run with my dog, then stopping to get some groceries or other small errands on the way back to my folks place. It's not like I'm leaving my dog in the car 8 hours straight under CA sun. If that was ever the circumstance (and it hasn’t ), I'm not stupid - I'd check in every half hour or so. (EDIT ADD: TRUST BUT VERIFY PHILOSOPHY)

Similarly, a few weeks back, I trusted the car and HVAC not to break down on a cross Canada drive. The trust was not without merit, I kept the car in top condition. I was sleeping in the car with my dog at -40 temperatures at a turnout in middle of nowhere, might have been out of cell phone range. Sometimes a little trust is OK. If the car had broken down, I could survive the night snuggling with the dog under my winter sleeping bag, and then wave down a car or big rig in the morning

 

@orenji is in the house!

 

So I am off by 100 degrees, at these temps does it really matter, the point is the car turns into an oven. As quoted “Parked in the sun for an hour, car seats reach an average of 123 degrees in the summer, according to a study by ASU and UC San Diego. In one of the cars studied, the dashboard reached 192 degrees, according to state climatologist Nancy Selover”.

 

Depends on the car. My Prius had the solar roof, and it never got higher than about ambient temperature when I parked it in the sun in CA (without the dog in it).

 

Yes I have the solar roof as well. It does help and I use a sunshade too.