FAQ

What is Tesla Tours?

We want FRESH AIR! We offer a cheeky, fresh look at electric cars. Using the element of surprise, humour and (some initially unsuspecting) passengers... we aim to show EV's are incredibly quick, fun, but also safe.

The goal of Tesla Tours is to make you laugh, to make you want to watch more tour videos... and then... secretly... to manipulate you into a fresh look at what an electric vehicles can really do. The mission is to nudge change towards transport mindfulness. To show amazing cool things, in ways not presented by politically sanitised correctness, or 'official' material.

This may help you consider upgrading to an EV earlier, or to talk to others about the cheeky Tesla Tour video series... so they might be nudged to get a cool EV and you get to ride it.

The goal of Tesla Tours isn't just to make you laugh, or show off a fancy car, and certainly not show or encourage illegal behaviour. The goal is to reduce air pollution, and increase safety, while most importantly having fun. We hope you enjoy.

Tesla Tours is not a formal legal entity, or registered trademark. We are not at all affiliated with Tesla, but share their ideals for a safer, better, more fun world - though would always be open to more formal connection with any entity that helps further this mission. Tesla Tours is supported by, but not owned by NeoMatrix. NeoMatrix provides Tesla vehicles and other support services to assist in this project. The project costs are already immense, but what price if not done? One day it's possible it could generate some revenue, which would be great to further help the mission, though really, for the foreseeable future at least it is in the philanthropic camp. We welcome donations of money, time, network intros, marketing sharing, or any other support. Join us!

We also support other initiatives to change the world too. Such as:
Password complexity and parental alienation.

How Can I Help Save the World...

Yes, it's kinda a big goal. And as a phrase it's too broad to be much more than a tired old phrase. However, saving the world to us means:

  • Reduce Traffic Congestion (fast pass to increase peak hour speeds,+ driving off peak / on quiet roads should give drivers benefits. NeoMatrix is working on solutions in this space)

  • Reduce Air Pollution (Made much worse by vehicle traffic)

  • Reduce Climate Change (Made much worse by air pollution)


You can help by:

  • Buy an EV. Encourage others to buy one

  • Help Promoting Tesla Tours Videos (Like, Subscribe, Comment, Promote) or NeoMatrix

  • Help join us in our work, as an advisor, volunteer, or even paid if you are very clever!

  • Help Lobby Government and industry to see the true cost of air pollution

  • Help Lobby Government and industry to see the true cost of traffic congestion

  • Donate to Tesla Tours. Time, Money, Smarts. It's an incredibly expensive project, with low chance of any future returns, but what price a better future for our children?


How Do I Book a Tour?

Tours are temporarily suspended in 2021, due to onerous restrictions and issues around masks, and the significant proportion of mask wearing passengers. While they may offer some (small) benefit to wearers, masks are also a serious barrier to non verbal communication.

So apart from the rising mental health crisis related to current policies, mask wearing isn't compatible with the Tesla Tours, which specifically seeks to capture reactions including non-verbal facial expressions.

Our goal is to increase safety and good health with a creative, provocative, cheeky and fun approach.. to nudging the world further and faster to better road safety and also FRESH AIR! Because the air poison that comes from your exhaust is literally killing people. Also, fresh air smells so good and is invigorating!

We hope in future masks can be removed, so Tesla Tours will be able to resume filming.

Your Videos are Hilarious. Do You License Them?

Our videos are meant to be more than funny. They are meant to spark new understanding and conversation, and further electric vehicles, self driving vehicles, while also reducing traffic and air pollution and climate change. Phew. That's kinda a lot.

We are very happy to discuss licensing these videos for news organisations, research entities, government or even streaming video services.

One key requirement is simply that any such licence will ensure the material is presented in the theme it was created, being not just humorous but to show and nudge people towards more globally sustainable transport choices.

How Many Tour Videos Are There So Far?

A lot. Heaps. More than a dozen. More than a dozen dozen. Hours, and hours of footage has been prepared already into tour clips. You could binge watch Tesla Tours all day and all night and still not have seen them all.

Netflix and HBO? Please get in touch if you want to license the content, as wider exposure would always be good... and it's hilarious content, but also a fresh approach!

Tour videos are being released in a staged manner, one each week, or perhaps more often even.

Best is to subscribe, and catch them as they are made available. Enjoy. There are already years of videos to release. That's years plural. With an 's'.

Do Passengers Know they are Filmed?

Most passengers are entirely unaware that the vehicle coming to collect them is a Tesla, or that it is capable of self driving. This is a key part of the surprise and delight of the Tesla Tour videos. Seeing unsuspecting people discover self driving cars is incredibly powerful, and makes you rethink safety, rethink the tech, even if you already read up about it.

Passengers booking rideshares will see 'About the driver' link on their own phone handset app before the car arrives. This specifically advises in-car filming is taking place and videos and sound may be shared online.

Once inside the car, there are a number of cameras mounted around the roof in highly visible locations. Cameras always have red lights flashing to show actively recording, and LED's are not turned off to silent mode. There are multiple signs on the front dash, the middle centre console, the back seat, and back window that report in-car filming is occurring, mentioning sound and video.

Several tours have passengers recorded commenting on the cameras, or the recording signs, and many have actively 'played up' for the cameras. Some tour passengers have recorded inside the car themselves with their own phones, and then shared footage with us, which demonstrates the red lights flashing on the in-car video cameras.

There is little possibility passengers have no idea filming is occurring, and at any rate the inside of a private vehicle is not a public space, and there is no lawful expectation of privacy there. Passenger destination addresses (unless a public or generic destination), phone numbers or other information are generally removed for privacy, including sometimes obscuring and blurring mouths to prevent lip reading.

Passengers who have actively requested not to have film published to the public of their ride, have these requests satisfied regardless of it being lawful to do so. Very few have requested this. These (no video request) restricted tour videos are only available to safety regulators, or entities who specifically deal in autonomous driving research, provided the subject's wishes at the time of filming are respected.

I Don't Want to be Filmed

There have been significant efforts to ensure passengers are aware filming is taking place, and filming sound and video in a private vehicle (private space) is lawful.

However, if you are featured in a tour video and have concerns, please contact us. We don't guarantee to remove videos already published, but will review and consider deletion or obscuring portions if deemed appropriate.

Please think about the value these videos have, not just to bring smiles, but as a way to help accelerate the transition to sustainable transport, reduced air pollution and climate change. Your wishes will be eagerly and professionally considered, but we would of course prefer to work with you to find a balance if there was anything at all that might be seen as not appropriate or unfair.

We have already removed some instances of inappropriate recording, including the two in bunny costumes coming back from the Mardi Gras (Just because it may be hilarious, doesn't necessarily mean the entire world needs to see all the video content).

We are not running this as a profit business, but as a social movement to help some big problems in the world. Please help us with this mission where you can!

I WANT to be Filmed!

Tesla Tours is open to others who share the goals of fresh air, fun, and a safer world. Please contact us if you can share your content as a Tesla Tour video, for us to publish on our channel. We would love to hear from you. No promises, and you must show common sense, not actively promote or encourage or do anything clearly illegal or dangerous, or which may take away from the positive message of electric cars being safe as well as fun and functional. To register with us, you must have good quality cameras with more than one viewpoint.

You must ensure passengers can be reasonably aware in-car filming is taking place. You must be able to provide us quality footage that is super fun and interesting. We are only seeking partners who can provide a reasonable number of clips, with ten being the entry level requirement.

We are a not focused on profit and any YouTube revenue will likely not touch the sides in the costs of our production! But we may license for a broadcast entity if interest is high enough.

We are able to manage the professional editing and promotion of clips free, but not pay for clips. If we secure a licensing deal we will share any profits made, but hope others may support fresh air and safety, and support on that volunteer basis. Get in touch!

Is Dangerous Driving Shown?

The tour videos show a cheeky fresh look at Tesla's, and demonstrate features in ways you can readily find all over YouTube already. One difference may be in the element of surprise. Not all passengers are aware they have booked a Tesla, and most have no idea what they are in for.

By capturing their surprise, it makes compelling viewing. This helps change mindsets. Seeing others discover helps you rethink. Because so many people have got into the Tesla saying they have read all about them, only to exclaim that it was unbelievable, and way more than they imagined. Reading about magic isn't the same as experiencing it, or seeing others experience it.

So at no time has there been any attempt to knowingly break any laws, or drive in any dangerous manner. It's advisable to hold the steering wheel when on AutoPilot, but this makes it impossible to demonstrate the feature in action properly. So the Tour makes a lot of use of this of course, like thousands of videos - and even as Elon Musk himself did on TV. Because holding a steering wheel while trying to demonstrate you don't actually need to if the car drives well ... makes no sense.

Regardless, don't mimic the behaviour seen in these clips. Some have been intentionally altered to exacerbate effects. Drive safe. Tesla Tours are a cheeky safety video. Ironic? Yes. If cheeky is what it takes to encourage more adoption of safer cars, and reduce air pollution (which kills many), then cheeky is a way to cut through.

AutoPilot itself has this exact problem. Much of society somehow expects it to be perfect before release, and tested for years, with no deaths attributed. Yet the delay in reaching this lofty goal is known to hold back saving thousands of lives. Tesla's are already 10x safer on AutoPilot, and the margin keeps growing rapidly. Would you be happy to delay technology that may save 10 lives, if you knew it might kill one? Where do you draw the line? So long as anything is an order of magnitude safer, it should be adopted, even if not perfect.

I Think These Videos Are Unsafe

One intent is to be cheeky. Specifically. To not be boring, but cheeky. It's certainly ironic to show 'safety' in ways that on face may seem unsafe, even to a degree. The goal is safety, but motivating the masses to rethink electric cars isn't easy. A dry printed report of capabilities and advice and statistics isn't going to move the needle much. Fun and excitement will.

When thinking safety... first realise that Air pollution already kills 9 million people a year globally, and increasing... and vehicles are the dominant contributor. Then realise that Tesla's are already 10x safer than other cars, when operated in an entirely automated fashion.

With the above in mind, think. Did something in a Tour video offend you? Did it seem unsafe or illegal? (No attempt has been made to actively perform or film any illegal content). Are you worried it sets an example, and others will want to emulate it?

The goal is to provide better safety within the community, and reduce deaths from air pollution, while also increasing quality of life and fun. If a cheeky video series is able to help move the needle in this good way, then is it perhaps worth considering. Any vague concerns on things like (He's not holding the steering wheel, and that is a manufacturer's recommendation) should be seen in context. Does the good outweigh any (alleged) bad? And yes, of course Elon Musk has already been filmed doing this. You can't demo something without demoing it!!

Best is to consider holistically. We trust viewers see the irony and benefits, and that the outcome of the tour videos is vastly positive.

In the unlikely event there was some actual specific complaint about something on a Tour video, we would of course review. But if upheld, and the matter proceeded to court, it would be a wonderful opportunity to defend the reality in what constitutes real safety. It may also be an opportunity to maximise publicity, to help further the safety mission. Yes. More irony! It's not always easy to get the safety message across, which is why some use different strategies... like airline videos with comedy, dancing and celebrities. Dry, boring safety messages don't have impact. But always remember, some clips are exaggerated or altered to showcase possibility and as entertainment with a message, just like some movies. Don't do everything you see in a movie (or here) yourself.

Filmed from 2016/17 - Before Tesla was 'A Thing'

Tesla Tours began in 2015 with our model S, being the first Tesla to ever begin collecting UberX passengers in Australia, and even before Uber was formally legalised. Fun fact, Chris supported Uber in it's court action against a disruptive campaign of dramatic citizens arrests, being asked to provide a formal affidavit and covert images he obtained of the offender (who engaged directly with Chris) to Uber, to submit to court in a case they ultimately won.

Tesla Tours filming began in 2016, but more from 2017 when the model X arrived. This was a special time, where almost nobody knew what a Tesla was, especially not in Australia where there were almost none on the road, and certainly not arriving to collect you as an Uber car. Many passengers had not heard of Tesla, or even if they had, didn't know how to spell, or pronounce the name. The surprise and delight at discovering a self driving car is accentuated by capturing this special time, before blanket coverage of Tesla occured, showcasing the self driving feature.

Discovering you are in a self driving car BEFORE even knowing such a thing even exists, and you not knowing you are going to have this experience is.. well.. kinda special. The entertaining clips hopefully demonstrate this delight and intrigue. We do hope these clips help nudge others to considering the safer technology provided by AutoPilot, and EV's in general though, as this is the primary mission focus.

The experience of passengers and their attitude and behaviour may also be of interest to researchers looking at the way people feel about being in a self driving car. Many passengers have expressed concerns on safety, only to discover they are actually IN a self driving car, and the mindset seems to quickly change to one of acceptance and understanding. It's easy to fear what we haven't experienced, or seen others experience. Reading about such advanced technology is not at all the same as the 'unexpected' experience, where people are suddenly offered the opportunity to rethink their fears.

Capturing the cusp of entry to market of Tesla AutoPilot with unsuspecting passengers who had no idea their car would be capable of, or even demonstrate self driving is a once in a lifetime opportunity to document the transition. Not just to sustainable transport, but to automated transport as well. Tesla Tours is aimed to help further promote this transition.

The Future is NOW!