Tesla driver caught asleep at 100 km/h — how monitoring failed

This isn't about home energy upgrades, so it falls outside what Retrofit Relay covers. But here's the plain-language rundown for reference.

A Tesla driver was filmed asleep at around 100 km/h on Highway 1 in British Columbia, with two children in the car, after witnesses recorded the car and called police. The incident raises questions about why Tesla's driver monitoring didn't catch it. The driver was wearing large sunglasses, which blocks the cabin camera above the rearview mirror from reading eye position and alertness. Tesla's own manual says this vision-based monitoring won't activate if the camera can't see the driver's eyes, including when sunglasses or a hat block them.

When the camera can't confirm attention, the car falls back on a weaker check: whether some force is being applied to the steering wheel. That doesn't confirm the driver is awake or watching the road, just that something is pressing on the wheel. Tesla's separate drowsiness warning has the same weakness, since it also depends on reading the eyes through the camera.

Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" feature is legally a Level 2 system, meaning the driver is always responsible, and B.C. law bars use of more automated (Level 3-5) systems on public roads. Tesla is still fighting lawsuits over claims it misled customers about its self-driving capabilities.