One Model S owner recently took to the highway to test out the Autopilot improvements and how it goes about alerting drivers to hold the wheel when necessary. While cruising on a relatively straight stretch of tarmac with little traffic and clearly marked lanes, it takes four minutes and 27 seconds for Autopilot to instruct the driver to hold the steering wheel.

Alongside this alert, the edge of the digital gauge cluster begins to flash white and soon, starts to beep. If the alert is ignored, there are then two further sets of beeps before a red alert warns the driver that Autosteer is unavailable for the rest of the drive and that the driver needs to take control of the steering.