Tesla Hack: Tiny Heads Fool Self-Driving Cars

Tesla owners in China have devised a unique workaround to circumvent the car's driver-monitoring system, using miniature celebrity head figurines. Priced between $10 and $40, these figurines, some resembling Dwayne Johnson, are placed to trick the vehicle's cameras. This allows drivers to disengage from the road while assisted-driving features are active, a practice strictly prohibited by Tesla.

The gadgets, appearing in various forms from repurposed dolls to sophisticated electronic displays, have proliferated on Chinese e-commerce platforms. This trend intensified in October 2026 following a Tesla software update that enabled distracted-driver monitoring via the in-cabin camera. Drivers previously attempted to obstruct the camera, but Tesla responded by disabling features for such modifications, leading to the emergence of these fake heads.

While these workarounds are currently a niche market, they raise concerns about the safety of driver-assistance systems. Critics compare them to devices that bypass seatbelt warnings, emphasizing the risk versus convenience trade-off. Tesla has not publicly responded to inquiries about these circumvention methods, leaving the efficacy and safety of their AI-driven features in question.