Tesla’s China recall: Your hands can be on the wheel — but your eyes must be on the road Tesla is recalling 2.74 million China-built Model 3 and Model Y vehicles after regulators concluded that detecting a driver’s hands on the steering wheel is not enough to ensure they are watching the road. The remedy will use the in-cabin camera to monitor driver attention during assisted driving, marking a major expansion of camera-based supervision in Tesla’s second-largest market. The recall, effective immediately, will be resolved by a free over-the-air software update. It applies to Model 3 and Model Y vehicles built in China from March 4, 2019, through Dec. 7, 2025, as per Electrek. Get it: Fast, verified news for FREE ... download the Gulf News app — simply click here China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said Tesla’s existing driver-attention system was inadequate when vehicles use Autosteer and enter “combination driving assistance” — China’s regulatory term for Level 2 driving automation. Level 2 systems can help steer, accelerate and brake, but they do not make the car autonomous. The driver remains legally and practically responsible for supervising the vehicle and taking control whenever necessary. Until now, Tesla’s system largely relied on steering-wheel torque: it looked for small inputs that suggest a driver is holding or nudging the wheel. Regulators concluded that this cannot reliably establish whether a driver is actually looking at the road. Tesla will now add cabin-camera monitoring alongside torque detection. Put simply, the vehicle will not only check whether a hand is applying pressure to the steering wheel; it will also assess whether the driver’s gaze is directed toward the road, CNBC reported. The change follows reports that some Tesla drivers in China had used inexpensive plastic doll heads or figurines positioned near the rear-view