WA trooper pulls over Tesla; driver says it was ‘possible’ she was asleep

A Tesla going nearly 80 mph will get any Washington state trooper’s attention, especially when the officer sees the driver’s “head flopping back and forth” as the car changes lanes.

A Seattle driver was cited for negligent driving Tuesday, and issued a $500 ticket, after Trooper Jake Lilley says he noticed just that around 1:30 p.m. on northbound Interstate 5 near Kent.

Lilley saw something was awry when the Tesla flew by him at 78 mph, well above the 60 mph speed limit. He followed the woman, who was wearing sunglasses, in his marked vehicle, and watched as she kept up her pace and made a couple of lane changes.

“Nothing crazy,” said Trooper Rick Johnson, a Washington State Patrol spokesperson. “He observed the driver’s head moving back and forth [in a way] that someone who was attentive wouldn’t have made, with the head flopping back and forth.”

So he pulled her over. Along with the standard questions – about license and registration, and how fast she was going – he asked if she was sleeping behind the wheel.

“Humans generally don’t self-report,” Johnson said. “She said that it was possible she was asleep.”

Sleeping while driving isn’t really possible – unless you’re driving a car that drives itself.

Fully autonomous, self-driving vehicles operate in a murky legal area both nationwide and in Washington state. But the law is clear: A human must supervise the car’s actions. It’s presumed that human is awake.

While companies are allowed to test their fleets and technology in the state, they must register with the state Department of Licensing, and they cannot transport goods or passengers, and a driver must remain behind the wheel. There are a handful doing so in Seattle: Waymo, Zoox and Nvidia.

Owners of cars with self-driving features, like Tesla, can engage the advanced driver assistance systems, like autopilot and full self-driving mode, but these are designed to assist drivers, not replace them.

The human in this case, whom WSP is not identifying, appears to have missed the memo, and may have engaged Tesla’s “Mad Max” mode, Johnson suggested, and fell asleep.

The questionably titled mode is part of Tesla’s driverless system capable of shifting lanes, taking turns and changing speed – as long as someone is behind the wheel and ready to take over at any time.

David Zipper, who reports on the future of transportation, reported in Fast Company that the mode lets Teslas “roll through stop signs and blast past other vehicles on the road” and go “82 mph while whizzing by a 65 mph speed limit sign.”

Mad Max mode was briefly introduced in 2018 and quickly scrapped. When it was reintroduced last October, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would investigate the potentially dangerous feature. That investigation is ongoing.

Tesla, for its part, has said the mode lets its cars travel “through traffic at an incredible pace, all while still being super smooth. It drives your car like a sports car. If you are running late, this is the mode for you.”

Tesla has other, less aggressive self-driving modes. “Sloth mode” drives at or below the speed limit, and “Chill mode” sticks to the slow lane.

Whatever the mode, Johnson said a licensed driver must be present. And that person has to be willing – unlike himself.

“Like any feature on a vehicle, you still have to use it responsibly. No matter if you’re in that mode or not,” he said. “For me, doing this job for 35 years, I can’t imagine letting a car drive me around. My wife would say it’s because I want control.”