Tesla Drivers in China Use Cheap Gadgets to Fool In-Car Monitoring

After Tesla launched its Full Self-Driving, or FSD, system in China, a troubling trend quickly spread: drivers began buying cheap accessories designed to trick the car’s monitoring camera into thinking they were attentive to the road. The items, sold on online marketplaces for about $10 to $40, include plastic human figures, tiny screens showing blinking eyes, and even celebrity-like faces.

Drivers place these devices in front of the cabin camera, usually near the mirror or on the windshield, so the system sees what appears to be a focused person while the real driver looks away, uses a phone, or falls asleep. Tesla’s system relies on an interior camera that tracks head and eye movement to make sure the driver is alert and ready to take over.

The article says the weakness is not new. Tesla has faced attempts to bypass its monitoring systems before and has warned that users caught doing so could be barred from using more advanced software versions. Recent checks also found that, in some cases, the system can be fooled by even simpler measures, such as wearing sunglasses, allowing a driver to keep eyes closed for long periods without triggering an alert.

The problem comes at a sensitive moment for Tesla, after it introduced FSD Supervised in China in May 2026 following years of regulatory delays. Despite the name, the system is only Level 2 autonomy, meaning the driver must remain engaged at all times. Safety experts criticized the gap between the branding and reality and said rival systems, such as General Motors’ Super Cruise, use more advanced infrared eye-tracking technology that is harder to deceive. Tesla has not issued a formal response to the spread of these deception gadgets in China.