LA man’s Ring camera picked up construction crew trying to tow his car. So he pulled up the app and got them to move it: ‘Hate Tesla but I love this’

A car owner recently managed to prevent his car from being towed even though he was out of town, all thanks to the Tesla app. The interaction, reposted on TikTok by analicialosoya, shows the owner using their Ring camera and remote car controls to coordinate with a construction worker. The video reached over 2.3 million views and highlights how useful modern vehicle apps can be in certain situations. However, since this is a repost, other details aren’t available.

The video starts with the construction worker approaching the door camera. He seemed ready to argue, but the owner, speaking through the camera, quickly explained his predicament. He told the worker, “Yeah… I’m not in Los Angeles, bro. But I unlocked the car. You guys can move it.” The worker was surprised, but the owner confirmed, “If you get in the car, you should be able to drive it. I don’t know if any of you know how to drive a Tesla, but I turned it on, and I unlocked it.”

The worker seemed relieved to have this sudden fix to their problem. When another crew member seemed skeptical, the owner repeated, “I swear to god. I swear to god, you can drive it. I swear to god, I just turned it on.” After pointing out where they could park the car on his lawn, we see the worker get into the car and move it. It was a happy ending to the problem noted in the overlay text, “POV you’re out of town and you see the construction crew plotting to tow your car.”

An ad or a genuine situation

This was the question that many TikTokers had in the comments. Mostly because there was limited information, and the original poster’s identity isn’t known. However, irrespective of the missing information, some users were impressed by the actual functionality of a Tesla.  One user commented, “Tesla should use this as a commercial.” Another wrote, “I hate tesla but I love this.”

One TikToker was impressed for a different reason, noting, “Two men working together to solve a problem. And no bs just common sense and being humble. Great job guys.” Then there were the people who were sure it was faked. As one commenter noted, “What a joke , this isnt real , its marketing for Tesla.” 

At the end of the video, the owner of the car has closed up the chat by saying ‘You’re good to go,” while the worker thanked him. Many were weirded out by that. One TikToker wrote, “’You’re good to go’ instead of thank you was kinda weird.” Many noted that at the end of the day, even if it helped out the crew, the owner is the one who got the bigger advantage.

This kind of remote interaction is made possible by the robust features found in the Tesla app. Enhance notes that the app provides a lot more functionality beyond unlocking the door and starting the car. They note that Tesla owners can view a 3D visualization of their vehicle and trigger various actions like climate control adjustments. 

They can also manage features like Bioweapon Defense Mode, which uses HEPA filtration to clean the air, or Pet Mode, which keeps the cabin comfortable for animals left inside. The Sentry mode is particularly relevant here, as it allows owners to monitor live camera feeds and even speak through an external speaker, which might be one of the ways the owner got through to the worker.

This, though, is where one distinction is worth making. That short range applies to Tesla’s Bluetooth phone-key feature, not the app itself — the app connects over cellular or Wi-Fi, which is exactly how the owner could unlock and start the car from out of town. Then again, the company itself can reach the car from HQ to turn features on and off, like supercharging. This remote access has also been the focus of conversations for a while.

Recently, according to Engadget, Tesla admitted that its robotaxis can be driven remotely by human operators in specific, rare cases. In this specific use case, the operators are authorized to take control of vehicles when they get stuck, usually at very low speeds. 

Competitors like Waymo typically only use human input for context rather than direct steering and acceleration. As Engadget points out, relying on remote operation involves technical hurdles like latency, which is why most companies avoid it. However, it indicates that your car can be accessed from much farther than you realized.

Whether the viral video was a clever marketing stunt or a genuine moment of modern convenience, it definitely sparked a conversation about the future of car ownership and just what is possible with our cars. As the caption of the video noted, “we really living in the future though.”