Self-Driving Tech We Wished For in Holiday Traffic Ended Up Saving a Life [Paek Jongmin's Deep Tech]

A case of a heart attack victim guided to the hospital on a U.S. highway
Safe transport to the hospital via Tesla’s FSD and remote control
Driver’s son: "FSD is not a convenience feature; it is a lifeline"

The Lunar New Year holiday is enjoyable, but drivers stuck on highways packed with homebound traffic inevitably become exhausted. It is only natural to imagine, "How great would it be if my car had a self-driving function?" Having personally experienced a car overseas that moves on its own once you set the destination makes this wish even more desperate.

Screenshot of Jack changing the route via the Tesla App on behalf of his father, who is unable to drive due to a myocardial infarction. The vehicle is traveling at 73 miles per hour, and the navigation destination is shown as changed to 'Tanner Hospital Main Entrance'. Twitter screenshot.

As I kept moving forward, repeatedly pressing the brake and accelerator, a case I read about not long ago came to mind. It was not about a simple self-driving convenience feature, but an incident in which the system actually operated in a real emergency.

At 3:50 a.m. on November 15, 2025, a man driving from Atlanta to Birmingham along a highway in the U.S. state of Georgia felt severe chest pain while behind the wheel. It was not clear at the time, but the diagnosis later confirmed was a major acute myocardial infarction. The driver was struggling to remain conscious and had reached a point where he could no longer safely control the vehicle.

At that moment, he called his son. Jack, awakened by the phone ringing before dawn, immediately sensed that something was seriously wrong with his father. His father was short of breath and drifting in and out of consciousness during the call. Although his father said, "I cannot drive any farther," a miraculous situation unfolded.

The car his father was in was a Tesla Model Y. On top of that, the self-driving Full Self-Driving (FSD) function was activated. This is why the vehicle was able to maintain its lane and continue driving along the highway toward its destination, even though the driver was no longer able to keep steering. Unlike simple smart cruise control that merely maintains distance from the vehicle ahead, FSD also performs lane keeping and route driving.

Jack immediately called his grandfather and explained the situation. The grandfather then contacted other family members in Douglasville, Georgia, and asked them to check nearby hospitals. The closest option was Tanner Medical Center in Carrollton.

Jack took a screenshot while on a call showing the Tesla app's Full Self-Driving guiding a route to the hospital. The destination was set to "Tanner Hospital Main Entrance (Dixie St entrance)," and the display showed approximately 9.4 miles remaining from a highway near Carrollton to the hospital. The top of the screen showed the early morning hour (around 4 a.m.) and the driving route.

Keeping the call connected, Jack searched for the hospital using Google Maps. Fortunately, Jack was also a registered authorized driver on his father’s Tesla account. Through the Tesla App, he was able to remotely control the vehicle’s functions. He immediately changed the vehicle’s destination remotely to the emergency room at Tanner Medical Center.

Once the destination was changed, the vehicle safely arrived right in front of the hospital’s emergency room entrance.

Medical staff, who had been notified by the family, began treatment immediately upon the arrival of the self-driving vehicle carrying the patient. The diagnosis was a major acute myocardial infarction with three blocked coronary arteries.

The medical team told the family, "If he had pulled over onto the shoulder and waited for an ambulance, or if he had tried to keep driving all the way to Birmingham, his survival would have been unlikely."

This incident became known on February 7, when Jack posted a detailed account of what had happened on X (formerly Twitter). The post spread quickly, and Tesla’s official X account also left a comment, saying, "We are glad FSD was able to help. We hope your father makes a speedy recovery."

The lesson this case offers is clear. A life was saved through the combination of technology and a human’s immediate judgment.

Jack, who shared the story, said, "If you or someone you know experiences a heart attack while driving, the very first thing you should do is pull over onto the shoulder and call 911 immediately." He added, "In our case, my father happened to be using FSD, I was able to change the destination remotely, and there was a specialized cardiac center nearby. All of these factors came together and led to his survival." He went on, "I am indescribably grateful that this technology existed at the very moment we needed it most."

Attorney Koo Tae-eon of law firm Lin, who has been sharing his experiences using Tesla’s self-driving vehicles, commented, "In a fully autonomous driving era, things like this could become part of everyday life."

Situations like this could easily occur around us as well. This is not some distant future; it is very much a reality.

An incident from two years ago comes to mind. Although she was not the driver, my colleague’s mother-in-law experienced similar symptoms while traveling on a highway, passed the golden hour for treatment, and died after arriving at the emergency room too late. I cannot help but wonder whether things might have turned out differently if, at that time, she had been in a self-driving car, heading to the hospital more quickly while staying in contact with medical staff. It is only a hypothetical, but if that had been the case, I cannot shake the regret that we might have been able to enjoy the dishes she prepared again this Lunar New Year.

Leaving aside any particular company’s technology, this is why Jack’s assertion resonates: "This technology needs to be made available to many more people. FSD is not just a convenience feature; it is a lifeline."