According to a report by Sin Chew Daily, the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) will be detaining and issuing a fine against local influencer Gatita Yan’s boyfriend, Tay Wee Shen, for falling asleep after putting a BMW iX on “autopilot” while driving on the highway.

In series of Instagram stories posted on March 28, 2023, Yan showed off her boyfriend fast asleep in the driver’s seat with both his hands and feet off the steering wheel and pedals. The posts have since been deleted but not before they were reported to the authorities that are currently on the hunt for the driver.

Perak police chief Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri told the daily that drivers are allowed to engage automated driving systems in cars, but they must remain awake and ready to take over control for their safety.

The police have announced in the past that it has banned motorists from using automated driving systems to drive hands-free in Malaysia. This is after videos of a Tesla Model 3 owner demonstrating the functionality of the car’s Autopilot system by driving certain sections hands-free from Singapore to Penang went viral.

At the time, Bukit Aman Traffic Investigations and Enforcement chief assistant director Superintendent Dr Bakri Zainal Abidin said, “from the PDRM’s perspective, Malaysia currently has no rules or laws against automated driving systems, but these systems do not help drivers keep their full attention on driving – the system can’t even be sure if there is a driver sitting in the vehicle.”

“This will probably cause the driver to pay less attention to the traffic around them, instead spending their time on other distracting things, such as using a mobile phone while driving,” said Bakri, who added that even the United States prohibits the use of autonomous vehicles, despite carmakers and tech companies testing such vehicles in the country (having obtained the necessary permits, of course).

The “autopilot” feature in some cars today is typically a semi-autonomous driving feature that is rated at SAE Level 2, which still requires the driver to pay full attention and prepared to take over when required. Even Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Beta (FSD Beta), despite the marketing, is still only a SAE Level 2 driver support feature.