What happens when you combine two of the biggest tech product launches in recent memory? Something at once cringe-worthy and dangerous.
Apple released the much-anticipated Vision Pro on Friday, so it was only a matter until some fervent (or clout-chasing) early adopters started showing off that they own one and the Tesla Cybertruck. Sure enough, by the end of the weekend, posts had started popping up on X and TikTok eliciting groans and snickers in equal measure.
If you have even the slightest interest in tech, chances are your social media feed was flooded with photos and videos of the Vision Pro this past weekend. Especially popular among these posts was a subset in which people can be seen wearing the $3,500 headset in public, doing everything from walking a dog, taking a subway, or driving their Cybertruck. Multiple people have posted videos of themselves behind the wheel of a moving Cybertruck while wearing their brand-new Vision Pro.
We’re sure there are some Apple and Tesla diehards out there who love these posts and maybe even think they’re cool, but most people who come across them will rightfully roll their eyes. They’re inelegant and tend to paint their authors as a fiend for “likes,” which shouldn’t surprise anyone who has ever time on social media. But they’re also dangerous.
Many of these posts are clear gags—a man who filmed himself being “arrested” for driving while wearing the device said it was just a “skit”— but the last thing we need are people driving while wearing something that obscures the road in front of them and peripheral vision. Teslas may be available with a technology called “Autopilot,” but, as the NHTSA has already made abundantly clear, their EVs cannot drive themselves. The driver needs to have their full attention on the road.
Just in case anyone doesn’t realize this, Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, took to X to remind people not to drive while wearing the Vision Pro. “Reminder—ALL advanced driver assistance systems available today require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times,” he wrote on Monday.
Cybertruck and Vision Pro mashups will likely abound on social media for the next week or so, but like everything they will lose their potency. No matter how hype surrounds the EV and headset, something new will come along to distract people. There are probably executives at both companies happy to see their products trending online right now, but going viral and having actual staying power are not the same thing.
