Woman gives birth to baby while Tesla was driving on autopilot

A newborn has been proclaimed a ‘Tesla baby’ after her mother gave birth in the car while it was cruising along on autopilot.

Yiran Sherry, 33, gave birth to her second child during rush-hour traffic when she, her husband and her three-year-old son were on the way to the hospital.

“She was squeezing my hand to the point where I thought she was going to shatter it,” her husband Keating recalled as Yiran crouched in the footwell of the passenger seat.

In a moment of modern multi-tasking, Keating put the Tesla on autopilot to drive to the hospital while delivering their baby.

“I was [saying to] Yiran: OK, focus on your breathing. That was advice to myself, as well,” he told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “My adrenaline was pumping. I said, ‘Rafa, everything’s fine. Your baby sister is arriving.’”

After 20-minutes of what can only be imagined as the most hectic car journey, they had reached the hospital and their new addition had been delivered.

Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Yiran recalled her experience to People: “Should I push or should I hold? Should I push or should I hold? F— it, let’s do this,” she said.

The baby’s umbilical cord was also cut in the front seat of the Tesla, the couple said.

“Once the paediatrician said, ‘She’s healthy. Congratulations,’ that was quite the sigh of relief,” Yiran said, and they even considered giving the baby the middle name “Tess” to pay homage to the experience – which they later opted against.

Baby Maeve Lily was given a clear health record. Now, three months old, the family said they are looking forward to taking a Christmas drive in their Tesla, adding “hopefully without any emergencies.”

This isn’t the first time a baby has been born inside a Tesla after a New Jersey couple gave birth in the electric car back in January, People reported, although that car wasn’t in motion.