Associated Incidents
A70/ BAMBERG. On Wednesday afternoon, a patrol from the Bamberg traffic police checked a 45-year-old Tesla driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel with the autopilot activated. The man also showed drug-typical abnormalities. After consultation with the public prosecutor's office in Bamberg, a complaint was filed against him for endangering road traffic.
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.
A preliminary investigation into the criminal offense of endangering road traffic was initiated against the Tesla driver. He has to give up his driver's license until the court decides.