Telematics Expert Witness Saves Dog Owner From Jail

Observers assumed that a dog was suffering from the heat after spending an hour locked in a car without water on a hot day. Proving the dog owner's innocence required an expert witness who could explain modern car technology.

During a warm day in June, Ross Hunt, an artificial intelligence expert, left his poodle, Loki, locked in his car for an hour while he met with his attorney at a bistro in Dublin.

A concerned passerby on her coffee break saw the dog and, worried about the heat inside the car, came back 10 minutes later to see the dog still there. She called the Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) who dispatched an inspector and a police officer.

The DSPCA inspector testified that the temperature outdoors was 25°C (77°F), the car was in the full glare of the sun with no shade, the windows were up and the dog was on the passenger-side floor, he believed looking for shade. In the inspector's opinion, the dog was in distress as its tongue was hanging out.

A few minutes after the inspector and police officer arrived, Hunt came running from the bistro, shouting “That's my car.” He testified that he thought they were about to break the window to rescue the dog.

The inspector testified that he cautioned Hunt that anything he said would be taken down and used in evidence. He said Hunt was agitated, told him he did not understand, and called them “busybodies gobshites” with nothing better to do.

Hunt, while apologetic for his language, testified that he tried to explain that he had his car, a Tesla model S, in “Dog Mode,” and showed the inspector an application on his phone that displayed the temperature inside the car, which he said was 20°C (68°F). Hunt, a qualified safari ranger, testified that animal welfare was his business: his artificial intelligence firm helped monitor cows and their welfare on farms in North America — and his dog was a quasi-mascot for his firm.

The inspector testified that Hunt's application showed a temperature of 25°C (77°F). Although neither the inspector nor the police officer checked inside the car to see if it was cooler inside than outside, the police officer charged Hunt with animal cruelty.

At trial, the prosecution subpoenaed a senior Tesla technician from the Dublin service center to testify as a telematics expert witness. The technician explained that Hunt's Tesla was fitted with a climate control system, called Dog Mode, that stayed activated even when the car was locked from the outside and that is meant to keep animals at a safe temperature inside their cars. (Tesla also has a Cabin Overheat Protection feature for child safety.)

The court accepted the expert testimony and dismissed the charges.

Earlier this year, Tesla updated its Dog Mode to display on its main dash screen the temperature and a message reassuring passersby that any animal inside the vehicle is cool.

Pretty cool.