Chinese Drivers Are Using Small Plastic Heads To Fool Tesla Autopilot Security

In China, because For just $30, you can have Dwayne Johnson drive your Tesla. Sounds too cheap to be true? Well, it is. What you’re buying is a miniature replica of The Rock’s head, designed to sit above the rearview mirror and trick Tesla into thinking an attentive driver is behind the wheel. Tesla is self-driving cars they seem to be unable to distinguish between the statues and the real person, causing the real driver to look away from the road, look at their phone, or even doze off, which should be prevented at this point. support features they are in a relationship.

Last week, videos showed tiny heads working inside Tesla cars went viral. I went down a deep rabbit hole and searched ecommerce websites and online forums to learn more about their origins. These images come in a wide variety of colors, featuring Hollywood or Chinese celebrities. Some look like reworked dolls or statues. They are just one example of creativity, as well which can be dangerousthe ways Tesla’s Chinese owners are trying to circumvent the automaker’s defenses.

On Chinese platforms such as Taobao, Xianyu, and Douyin, listings are easy to find. They are priced anywhere from $10 to $40, depending on how difficult they are. They can be installed on the roof of the car, the windshield, or the rear window, and are perfectly positioned to cover the driver’s actual head and nothing else.

A Tesla Model 3 owner in China told me that his small head works well. (He asked not to be identified because Tesla doesn’t allow DIY workarounds.) On a recent road trip, he reportedly opened up the driver’s seat and placed a fake head (a bald man, who, in the old knockoff style, looks a bit like Dwayne Johnson) at about 250 miles into a 400-mile trip. Usually, Tesla intervenes quickly when it detects a distracted driver. With that title, he says he can go 30 minutes without being interrupted.

In the video he sent me, the driver uses one hand to eat roasted sunflower seeds and the other to take pictures, while a fake head is pulled over the rearview mirror and blocks the camera from seeing what he’s doing. “You should buy a doll’s head the size of a ping pong ball,” the driver said on a Chinese video platform where Tesla drivers exchanged tips. “If it’s too small, the camera can’t focus on the toy.”

Tesla’s most helpful system, Self-Directed (Supervised)it is not yet available in China. Drivers in this country can reach here other important things cruise control, autosteering, and autopilot on some city streets. Because the cars are not autonomous, Tesla wants the drivers to maintain the road. They use different things side control to ensure that they are not disturbed, including the camera on the top of the windshield. When the car detects that the driver is not looking ahead for a few seconds, it prompts them to change their focus immediately. If they don’t follow through, Tesla might just turn it off autopilot mode or ban the driver for a week from using driver assistance devices.

Tesla drivers in other markets, including the US, have been looking for ways to improve the safety of their cars. People have tried everything from wearing glasses to make it difficult for the camera to focus on the eyes setting weights on their steering wheel to deceive the system into thinking that they are still holding. On Reddit, some users expressed their desire slightly older car models which have fewer cameras and sensors.