Driver slept through entire 15 min chase with police while his car drove itself

Posted on : January 4, 2023
Driver slept through entire 15 min chase with police while his car drove itself
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    A Tesla driver was pursued by police for a whole 15 minutes while asleep at the wheel, thanks to the car's self-driving Autopilot function.

    According to German traffic cops, they spotted a car driving down the autobahn at 68 MPH and signalled to the driver to pull over.

    When the driver didn't respond to the honking and signal lights, the police followed the car for roughly 15 minutes before realising the driver was fast asleep at the wheel.

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    The car's Autopilot mode continued to evade police while the man slept, blissfully unaware he was in a car chase.

    In a press release, Bavarian police said: "Officers found that the Tesla driver was reclining in the seat with his eyes closed and his hands off the steering wheel.

    "This strengthened the suspicion that he had left the controls to the autopilot and had fallen asleep."

    The 45-year-old Tesla driver eventually woke up after 15 minutes and pulled over.

    Police discovered he was under the influence of an unidentified substance and had rigged his Tesla with a steering wheel weight, to trick it into thinking his hand was on the wheel.

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    The Autopilot system in Tesla cars uses artificial intelligence to steer, accelerate, brake and control the vehicle.

    Driver input is not required, but drivers do have to keep their hands on the wheel and their foot on the brakes at all times in order to comply with road safety laws for self-driving cars.

    Tesla is still yet to release a fully autonomous version of its Autopilot software, which it calls 'Full Self-Driving' mode.

    The car firm, which is owned by Elon Musk, has seen its share prices plummet this week after missing key targets, despite shipping a record 1.3 million cars in 2022.

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