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Comment by zardo | Hacker News Reader

Don't you have to defeat a safety interlock to allow hands off the wheel driving in a Tesla?

Have you never used your legs to kind of hold the wheel or even steer in a car when you've taken your hands off for a moment? That's what I'm going to guess was going on here.

Genuinely, I have never ever done that. I am driving for over 20 years.

How else can you eat while you commute?

I rarely eat while driving and when I do, I eat stuff that can be easily eaten by one hand and quickly (chocolate etc).

I really hope the question was meant to be funny.

Only half-joking. I can eat two handed e.g. a sandwich or something similar while briefly holding the wheel with my knees. It's not a huge hardship especially in slow and predictable rush hour traffic.

It is not that I consider it hardship. I consider it distracted driving.

I think it "depends on the market".

My Tesla Model Y 2023 in the Netherlands complains a lot if I take my hands off the steering wheel. Heck, it even complains sometimes when my hands are in the steering wheel!

However, I rented a Model 3 in California through Hertz past month and it was much more lenient. I imagine I had to take my hands off for a period of time at least 5 times longer for it to start bothering, and didn't bother at all when I was driving with my hands steadily placed on the steering wheel.

In my opinion the one in California made long drives a bit safer as you don't have the pressure of putting the right pressure (pun intended) as much.

Exactly, there are different regulations that cause them to have less capability and stricter nags in Europe.

You have to nudge the wheel every 30s or so, and respond to audible prompts to "wiggle" the wheel or steering control will be disabled for the rest of the drive.

I think its by distance. On the freeway its more "whiny" for you to wiggle wheel.

It also nags much more in certain "dangerous" situations. For example, too many traffic cones nearby or detected emergency vehicles. It has gotten pretty good at that last one, though it often alerts to emergency vehicles on the opposite side of a divided highway.

What's interesting is that blue cruise in my car specifically says "hands off" when it's active. Though it does also say "be ready to take over at any time" and yells at you if you look away.

I didn't realize that Ford was ahead of Tesla in that department!

According to the subreddit some tesla owners can fool it with some fishing weights

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