A Tesla was chased for 15-minutes in Germany, with the driver asleep (and reclined) behind the wheel. It appears he rigged the autopilot system, before passing out.
German police officers pursued a Tesla on the Autobahn for 15 minutes as the “driver” slept in the front seat, reclined. Allegedly, he rigged the steering wheel with a weighted component to trick the autopilot system into thinking the driver was alert. At some point in time, the driver reclined the seat and passed out.
When police officers attempted to pull him over, he failed to respond. According to reports, they honked at him several times, and had their sirens on. After 15 minutes, the man finally awoke, and responded to the police officers by pulling over.
Here is the full quote posted by the Bavarian Police department:
The driver was driving on the A70 from Bamberg in the direction of Bayreuth around 12 p.m. when the police patrol wanted to subject him to a traffic check. He did not respond to stop signals or repeated horns from the officers. It was noticeable that the vehicle kept the same distance from the patrol car in front from the Viereth-Trunstadt junction to the Bamberg-Hafen junction at 110 kilometers per hour. 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. After about 15 minutes, the man finally woke up and followed the instructions of the police. He showed drug-typical abnormalities during the check-up. The officers also found a so-called steering wheel weight in the footwell. This device is attached to the steering wheel to trick the vehicle’s safety system by pretending that your hand is on the wheel.
German police officials have launched an investigation into the suspect, and revoked his driver’s license.
