Tesla App Lets Rajesh Randev Accidentally Steal a Model 3

Written by Reananda Hidayat Permono Completed Master of Science - MS, Petroleum Geology from Curtin University, Perth, Australia.

In Vancouver, Canada, Rajesh Randev was rushing to pick up his kids, so he unlocked his Tesla Model 3 car and started to drive over.

Interestingly, after a while, he realized the Model 3 he was driving wasn’t his car.

It turns out Randev had stolen someone else’s car, parked side by side with his in the parking lot.

Tesla’s app on his phone had allowed him to drive the car as if nothing was wrong.

At first, he didn’t realize it when he saw a crack in the windshield, which he had never seen.

Randev called his wife to ask her what had happened. He was also suspicious when he couldn’t find his phone charger around his seat.

After a while, Randev received text messages from an unknown number that said, “Rajesh are you driving Tesla?”

Those messages were from Mahmood, the real owner of the Tesla car he had stolen.

Mahmood found Randev’s phone number on a document in another white Tesla Model 3.

Both men talked wisely; Randev agreed to return the car after picking up his kids from school.

This case could happen since Randev has Tesla’s phone key app, allowing customers to unlock their cars and drive them when their phones are nearby.

But it shouldn’t be able to open someone else’s Tesla. Randev has tried to contact Tesla, but his emails were bounced back.

Designed by Alexander Rabu