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Elon Musk took an embarrassing Tesla test drive with Google's cofounders: The car would go only 10 mph

The first ride that Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin got in Tesla's electric car wasn't too thrilling.

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That's because the car could go only 10 mph.

As Tesla CEO Elon Musk recounted at the company's annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday, a bug in the car's systems prevented the vehicle from going any faster when the two Google cofounders hopped aboard.

google Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. REUTERS/Chip East

This was around the time when Tesla was building a completely new set of electronics for its early prototypes, switching from an analog computer that controlled the motor to a digital version.

Here's how Musk remembers the incident:

I remember in the early days giving a test drive to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, whom I've known for a long time, and there was some, like, bug in the system, and dammit, the car would only go 10 miles an hour. And I was like "Look, I swear guys it goes way faster than this."

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Luckily for Musk, the Google cofounders were not too put off by the slow ride. In fact, Page and Brin went on to become early investors in Tesla.

"They were kind enough to put a little investment into the company nonetheless, despite the world's worst demo," said Musk.

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