Rally race driver Alex Roy just completed a 2,700-mile sprint from California to New York behind the wheel of an Autopilot-enabled Tesla Model S in an impressive 57 hours and 48 minutes, spending most of that time hands-off. The announcement was made on Jalopnik founder Mike Spinelli's Instagram account, and data to back up the claim will be made available soon. Roy achieved this with the help of Carl Reese and Deena Mastracci, both of whom (along with Rod Hawk) held the prior record for the shortest charging time coast-to-coast in the same Model S.
Roy is best known in automotive circles for setting a coast-to-coast record in a gasoline-powered car in 2006, which he completed in an astounding (and, naturally, very illegal) 31 hours and 4 minutes. His car, a heavily modified BMW M5 sedan, carried radios, jammers, and all manner of equipment required to avoid the police and any potential traffic jams. Guinness World Records refused to honor the record, claiming that the group does not verify records that require lawbreaking.
This trip was, naturally, a fair bit slower than the ones before. A Tesla Model S has a range of just under 300 miles -- and it goes lower once air conditioning, traffic and speeding are taken into account. The fastest way to juice up a Tesla's battery is with the company's Supercharger network of high-speed EV chargers, but even that still takes a good deal of time -- Tesla's website states that a Supercharger can provide 170 miles of range in approximately 30 minutes. Thankfully, there are currently 534 Supercharger stations across the country, giving Roy the juice he needed to complete the sprint.
Roy is a staunch defender of both electric vehicles and the latest wave of semi-autonomous vehicles. Between frequent posts on Jalopnik, social media posts decrying the media's incorrect portrayal of self-driving-car technology and even his own TEDx talk, Roy is clearly very excited about the future ... so long as everybody gets their acts together.
While no company would have the chutzpah to outright endorse an individual breaking the law, the feat still remains an impressive one. At the least, his efforts should put to rest the notion (however foolish) that Tesla's Autopilot is inherently unsafe or even remotely dangerous.
Editors' note, October 13, 2015: This story has been updated to include the names of Roy's two co-pilots, who also deserve credit for the achievement as all three were integral parts of the attempt.
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