by How easy is it to trick Tesla’s monitoring system?
It turns out it is extremely simple. One Tesla owner in China created and sells miniature plastic doll heads that convince the car’s onboard cameras that the driver is attentively watching the road.
Features of Tesla’s monitoring system
Unlike most automakers who place driver monitoring systems on the steering wheel or A-pillar, Tesla uses a small camera located above the rearview mirror to monitor the driver’s attention. However, owners in China have discovered that placing a small doll head in front of this camera, hanging it from the windshield with a suction cup, is enough to fool the camera into thinking it is a real human head.
One Tesla Model 3 owner told Wired that they used such a figurine during a trip and managed to drive for about 30 minutes without any inattention warnings while Autopilot was activated.
Criticism and system bypass
Tesla has long been criticized for lacking a driver monitoring system, despite selling cars with advanced semi-autonomous driver assistance technologies. Although Tesla models now have such a system, some owners are clearly eager to bypass any technology that could prevent them from dozing off behind the wheel.
Danger or joke?
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New ways to deceive
The automaker only recently introduced its Full-Self Driving (Supervised) system in China and launched the technology along with an improved driver monitoring system. Digital Trends reports that, in addition to using detailed doll heads, some owners have started placing small screens in front of the camera that play looped videos of a human face blinking and moving naturally.
The figurines, which have become central in recent videos spreading on social media, can be purchased online for prices ranging from $10 to $40. They include the faces of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and typical male faces.
Risks and future of the system
Obviously, using such a product to fool the onboard driver monitoring system while using autonomous driving systems is extremely dangerous not only for you but also for other road users. It will be interesting to see if these cheap workarounds force Tesla to improve its systems, potentially adding sensors and cameras that better recognize a real human face.
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This situation highlights the ongoing struggle between safety innovations and human ingenuity aimed at bypassing them. While Tesla actively implements technologies to enhance safety, such as improved driver monitoring systems, ways to neutralize them are found. This could lead to increased demands from regulators on automakers to implement more reliable systems that cannot be fooled by simple devices. At the same time, it serves as a reminder of the responsibility of drivers themselves, because even the most advanced technology cannot replace attentiveness and caution on the road.
