[Anchor]

In South Korea, drivers are required to keep their hands on the steering wheel even when using vehicle autonomous driving features. However, products that trick vehicles into thinking a human is holding the wheel are widely being distributed. Though they can be purchased with just a few clicks, it has been revealed that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has taken no action over the past six years.

This is an exclusive report by Cho Min-ki.

[Reporter]

Tesla's driving assistance feature, Autopilot, is not a fully autonomous driving system, meaning drivers must keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the steering wheel.

However, searching for Autopilot online brings up devices that deceive vehicle systems into thinking a human hand is resting on the steering wheel, so-called helpers.

They take the form of hooks attached to the steering wheel, acting much like a weight.

This black, hook-shaped product is the helper.

Let us check firsthand how a self-driving car behaves with and without the helper attached to the steering wheel.

First, we drove without attaching the helper.

Just 10 seconds after letting go of the steering wheel, a warning message appeared, and in less than a minute, the autonomous driving function was forcibly turned off.

Next, we drove with the helper installed.

[I have been driving with both my hands and feet off the wheel for over three minutes now, and the vehicle is not sounding any warning alarms, apparently mistaking the helper for the driver's hand.]

However, complete peace of mind was out of the question.

[Whoa. This is a bit precarious because it fails to fully maintain the direction in sections with sharp curves.]

Under the current Automobile Management Act, installing a helper is illegal.

Back in 2020, when vehicles equipped with Autopilot began to be imported, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport also stepped up enforcement by sending official letters to online shopping malls requesting restrictions on the sale of helpers.

However, an SBS investigation confirmed that over the past six years, there has not been a single case of crackdown or detection regarding the sale or attachment of helpers by either the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport or the National Police Agency.

In the meantime, helpers are being widely distributed centered around online shopping malls, and as the import scale of Teslas grows day by day, driver interest is also rising.

[Boo Seung-chan / Member, National Assembly Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee (Democratic Party of Korea): The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport must step up to sort out this relationship and it is truly important to supplement institutional inadequacies.]

Critics point out that while clear illegal acts directly tied to traffic safety are met with mere lip service about banning sales, both the competent ministry, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the law enforcement agency, the police, are sitting on their hands.

(Video reporting: Yang Ji-hoon, Kang Si-woo | Video editing: Lee Hong-myeong | Footage provided by: Tesla | Data provided by: Office of Representative Boo Seung-chan of the Democratic Party of Korea)