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The police could only stop a Tesla in self-driving mode on Autobahn 70 near Bamberg with incredible difficulty.
The police headquarters in Upper Franconia announced on December 29, 2022, that the driver, who had obviously fallen asleep, did not react to stop signals or to repeated horns from a patrol car.
The man finally woke up after about 15 minutes and followed the instructions of the police.
The officers of a patrol car noticed on Wednesday that the Tesla had followed them at a constant distance and a speed of 110 km/h on a section of road about six kilometers long. Although this is common with activated adaptive cruise control, the officers apparently found this suspicious.
They 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 steering to autopilot and had fallen asleep."
Steering wheel weight prevents emergency stops
During the subsequent check after waking up, the driver showed "drug-typical abnormalities".
In addition, the officers found a so-called steering wheel weight in the footwell. This allows the legally required hands-free detection to be tricked.
This will normally initiate an emergency stop if the driver does not move or touch the steering wheel within a certain period of time.The sellers of the weights, therefore, warn against using them on public roads.
An investigation was initiated against the driver for the criminal offense of endangering road traffic. He had to give up his driver's license until the court decided.