A sleeping Tesla driver was caught doing nearly 70mph on a motorway after fixing the car's autopilot so he could take a nap, police have said.
Officers in Bamberg, Germany, chased the Tesla Model 3 after spotting the driver doing 70mph on the A7 autobahn on December 28.
Police were chasing the 45-year-old driver with their sirens and lights blaring for 15 minutes.
However, it was only when they overtook the car that they saw he was asleep at the wheel.
The driver finally woke up to the sirens and was confused and unaware of what was happening.
He then immediately pulled up at a junction.
Police later found that the driver had taken drugs.
A spokesperson from the Upper Franconian police said: "It was evident 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 kilometres per hour.
"Officials determined 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."
The cops also found a special weight in the footwell that reportedly mimics the presence of hands on the steering wheel to fool the autopilot.
The police added: "This device is attached to the steering wheel to trick the vehicle's safety function by pretending that the hand is on the wheel."
Tesla's autopilot is supposed to enhance safer driving using external cameras to reduce the risk of collisions.
The electric car firm, however, strictly bans customers from using it so they can sleep or get home after a night's drinking.
Bamberg's Public Prosecutor issued a criminal complaint for endangering road traffic against the driver, who was banned from driving indefinitely.
Driving on autopilot has been allowed only "under certain conditions" in the country, according to a 2017 law by Germany's Federal Ministry of Transport.
