Tesla ghost hunt goes viral: Scientist on track to uncover cemetery mystery in Thailand

A viral TikTok video featuring a Tesla car detecting a ghost in a cemetery sparked scientific analysis today by Dr Chetsada Denduangboripant, a lecturer in the Department of Biology at Chulalongkorn University. He suggested that the anomaly could be due to a malfunction in the car’s sensor and software systems.

The viral video was posted by @aunnyc, who drove her electric Tesla vehicle around a cemetery. The Tesla Vision system, designed to detect objects around the vehicle to prevent accidents, showed an object resembling a person next to the car. @aunnyc confirmed that there was no one in the vicinity and that there was no setup for the video.

Dr Chetsada stated that this was not an isolated incident. There have been several news reports and videos from abroad where Tesla electric cars had detected objects resembling people where there were none, especially in the United States, where the cars are popular.

Some people even drove their Teslas through cemeteries and other unusual locations hoping to detect ‘mysterious humanoid’ objects.

If we dismiss the belief that the spirits guard the cemetery and the Tesla has supernatural vision, there may be a problem with the Tesla Vision system of the car in question.

This system includes eight cameras and twelve ultrasonic sensors. A malfunction in these devices, or in the software that interprets their data, could result in false detections.

@aunnyc Tesล่าท้าผี #TikTokAwardsTH2023 #TikTokUni #รู้จากTikTok #TikTokเรื่องเล่า #เรื่องเล่า #เรื่องผี #Tesla #รถยนต์ไฟฟ้า #พยาบาลอัญ #Aunnyc ♬ เสียงต้นฉบับ – Aunny.c

The most plausible explanation is a phenomenon known as a false positive, where the car detects an obstacle that doesn’t exist. It could be that the car’s sensors detected objects like flowers, bushes, or tombstone signs and interpreted them as dangerous obstacles.

Tesla’s collision avoidance system works by using sensors and cameras together to analyse what is around the vehicle.

The data is then sent to the display in the passenger compartment, showing up as graphics rather than actual video footage of what the camera sees. This makes it easy for errors to occur in the display, such as a tombstone being displayed as a ‘pedestrian’.

In Tesla’s user manual, it warns about the collision avoidance system. Several factors can reduce the system’s efficiency or cause it to malfunction, leading to unnecessary collision warnings, false alerts, or inaccuracies.

From a safety perspective, an autopilot car like a Tesla should show a false positive rather than a false negative, where the car doesn’t detect a real obstacle.

For example, it would be better for the car to give a false warning about a child running onto the road (even if there isn’t one) than not detecting an actual child on the road, reported Khaosod.

False positives

However, false positives are not always good. They can cause dangerous situations with the car braking unexpectedly and leading to accidents.

Tesla itself has been sued in Illinois, USA, over allegations that the car malfunctioned, causing a false positive front collision warning, which poses a risk of causing accidents.

The company has even recalled some cars that were too sensitive and had problems with ‘false positive’ braking.

Therefore, any Tesla users who experience unusual ghost detection should take their car to a service centre to check.

If there is anything wrong with the car’s sensor system, try rebooting the autopilot software. Some models, such as Model X and Model S, can reboot by pressing both scroll wheels on the steering wheel, which will turn off the car’s touch screen and restart it in a few seconds.

Follow more of Thaiger’s latest stories on our new Facebook page HERE.