It does this. First, it tells you to grab the steering wheel. If you don't, it plays a chime and disengages auto pilot. If it does this, you can't use auto pilot for the rest of the drive.

That's great, I assumed it didnt because of this accident. Was that feature implemented after this accident (or as a result)?

No, it's been a feature pretty much forever. The thing is, you basically get '3 strikes'. It starts with a simple visual warning, then progresses to an angrier visual warning, then starts beeping, then louder beeper, then it disables and starts slowing the car down (and puts hazards on, etc).

You've got quite a bit of time before it actually does this. As long as you jiggle the steering wheel every ~20 seconds or so, it shouldn't actually stop the car or disable autopilot.

It is fairly easy to cheat.... you can buy a weight that you attach to the steering wheel, and it will think you are grabbing it.

Super dangerous and stupid, but people do it.

So my friend couldn't drive a Tesla and eat a sandwich, with just one hand on the wheel? (As they do now on open motorways in good conditions.)

You can do that. You only have to grab the steering wheel with one hand.

That's already how it has been working in Tesla cars since a long time ago. Of course, most of those oversensationalized articles won't typically mention it, as it destroys the hype and narrative.

I'm curious why people keep dying in Teslas on AP with their hands off the steering wheel then.

For the same reason as they do in other cars. But "Tesla" gets a lot more press because of their marketing.

Tesla gets more attention because they market "self driving" and other car makers don't.

If the increased attention were only about the FSD feature, I would agree with you. However, it is often the case for other things about the company as well.

I definitely think Tesla works hard to keep things this way, and my comment was mostly neutral.

It doesn't disengage immediately after taking your hands off the wheel, it starts prompting you after about 5-10 seconds.

It's actually 40 seconds, at least in my Model 3.