To fool the camera detection systems on their Teslas while driving in automated mode, Chinese customers turn to fake plastic doll heads.
Screwed onto the ceiling of their cars, they successfully trick the system into thinking the driver is alert. It’s not the first time the aftermarket has tried to outsmart the safety systems of advanced self-driving technology.
“The rock”
In China, miniature figurines are now being sold specifically to fool the neural network of the attention camera into thinking someone is watching the road. To increase hype, some of these dolls mimic the faces of celebrities, such as actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Wired reporter Zeiy Yang broke the story after falling down a rabbit hole on obscure Chinese e-commerce platforms. What he found was a small but rapidly growing business: ping-pong-ball-sized heads, priced between $10 and $40, designed to sit near the rearview mirror and block Tesla’s cabin-facing camera from seeing the actual driver. The lenze is unable to distinguish a plastic face from a real one.
Videos circulating on social media demonstrate the trick’s efficiency. After installing their dolls, drivers can eat or watch a video on the highway without a single alert.
Blocked for a week
Tesla’s driver monitoring system uses a cabin-facing camera mounted above the windshield to track head position and eye movement during FSD use.
If the system detects that the driver’s gaze has wandered for too long, it issues a warning. Persistent distraction can cause the system to disable itself or block use for a week.
The emergence of the fake heads coincided with a Chinese Tesla software update last year that activated stricter monitoring. Drivers initially tried blocking the camera completely with a webcam cover.
But the figurines appeared after Tesla pushed a notice warning that driver-assistance features would be disabled if the camera were obstructed.
The technique is also evolving beyond fake heads. The most sophisticated gadget reported is a small display screen that plays a looped video of a person moving their head and blinking, claimed to achieve a “0% error rate” on Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck. To make matters worse, according to Wired, some units were already sold to customers in the US, Canada, and South Korea.
Clearly, in markets where FSD is fully enabled, there’s interest in bypassing the attention-assist. As Europe opens the door to the technology, it seems increasingly likely that a comparable solution will soon reach the continent.
Steering weight
It’s not the first time safety hacks have appeared. In 2018, the American road safety body NHTSA shut down an item called “Autopilot Buddy.”
This $199 weight was designed to fit a Tesla steering wheel and trick the torque sensor into believing someone was holding it. The cabin camera was devised specifically to counter solutions like these.
So, a certain pattern is forming: Tesla closes one loophole, drivers find the next. But the stakes are not trivial. Autopilot and FSD (Supervised) are Level 2 systems.
They require active human supervision at all times and rely on driver intervention for safe use. They are not autonomous, and they make mistakes. By-passing the safety net is jeopardizing the lives of fellow road users.
One can imagine that AI-based cameras could help close these loopholes, but Tesla has yet to offer an answer. An over-the-air update might not fix it this time.
