VACAVILLE, California — A Tesla driver was found passed out behind the wheel as the car moved through busy streets in Vacaville on Wednesday, and police brought the vehicle to a safe stop near Elmira Road and Shasta Drive before arresting the driver on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana.
Vacaville Police Department dispatchers got the call shortly after 11 a.m. on March 25 from a community member who said the driver was slumped over and unconscious at the wheel of a moving car. Officers initially treated the scene as a possible medical emergency, but investigators later said the driver was under the influence of alcohol and marijuana.
Photos released by police showed a four-pack of Sutter Home Cabernet Sauvignon and a Round Table pizza box on the passenger side of the cabin. The department said California drivers are allowed to use newer assistive driving safety features in their vehicles, but it stressed that they still must be conscious, alert and sober while operating them.
The arrest lands in a familiar place for Tesla and its driver-assistance systems. Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (Supervised) are Level 2 systems, which means the human behind the wheel remains legally and operationally responsible at all times. Falling asleep at the wheel is one of the failure modes the driver monitoring system is supposed to prevent.
That has not stopped some drivers from treating the technology like a substitute for attention. Electrek said it has been documenting drunk drivers using Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving as a chauffeur for years. In 2018, a Tesla Model S driver was pulled over by California Highway Patrol after sleeping drunk for about 7 miles on Autopilot. That same year, another driver passed out drunk in his Model S and tried to use Autopilot as a defense.
The pattern has surfaced outside the United States too. In 2021, a Tesla in Norway brought itself to a stop after the drunk driver became unconscious at the wheel. Last fall, a Tesla owner bragged on video about driving drunk on Full Self-Driving and argued the car was a safer driver than he was.
Tesla has spent years selling and marketing the systems under names that suggest more independence than the technology can deliver. It has released demo videos showing the car driving with no human input, and it has sold the package on the promise that the car will eventually drive itself. The Vacaville case is another reminder that, for now, the driver is still the one responsible when the car is in motion.
