Rick Ross says he would never ride in a Tesla because he fears the self-driving car could take him to the authorities against his will

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Rick Ross says he would never ride in a Tesla because he fears the self-driving car could take him to the authorities against his will
Rapper Rick Ross performs onstage during Day 1 of the 2022 ONE MusicFest at Central Park on October 08, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia.Paras Griffin/Getty Images
  • Rick Ross said that he's never ridden in a Tesla before.
  • In an Instagram story shared Tuesday, Ross said he was afraid the cars could be remotely controlled.
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Rapper Rick Ross says he's steering clear of Teslas, fearing the semi-autonomous cars could take him places he does not want to go.

"I'm not gonna say I won't have a smart car, but I've never ridden in a Tesla. Never... And the reason being I've always had it in the back of my mind the government could tap into the brain of the car," Ross said in a Tuesday Instagram story.

Ross, speaking to someone off camera, narrated an imagined scenario of an "agent" controlling a Tesla to bring him in for questioning. "'Where's Rick? He's over there. Naw, bring him over for questioning,'" Ross said, pretending to be the agent.

Ross continued his dramatization: "Where I'm going? It's leaving Wing Stop. You pull up to the building and the agent walk out. 'Hey, Rick.'"

Ross later said he believed Teslas would be able to repossess themselves should their owners miss payments on the vehicles, Consequence of Sound reported.

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Although no evidence exists that police and other government officials have even considered remote control of Teslas, hackers have found security flaws within the vehicles over the years.

In January 2022, Cyber Security Researcher David Colombo gained control of 25 Teslas across the world after finding security bugs in TeslaMate, a popular open-source logging tool that stores sensitive information, including location history, in order to link to the cars. Colombo documented his findings on Twitter after the bug was fixed and said that although he was able to take control of certain features and start the car, he did not believe it would be possible to move the vehicle remotely.

However, what Ross should be more interested in is the safety of riding in driver-assisted vehicles.

Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk are currently facing multiple lawsuits concerning accidents that involved their vehicles' autopilot feature. The systems have also been previously scrutinized for being easily tricked into ignoring safety guardrails.

Between July 20, 2021, and May 21, 2022, Teslas accounted for 273 — roughly 74% — of driver-assisted accidents, according to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on vehicles with assistance systems.

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Tesla and Rick Ross did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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