Man seemingly caught asleep while driving Tesla on major Sydney motorway

A Tesla driver has been caught seemingly asleep behind the wheel while driving on one of Sydney's busiest motorways.

The video, shared on Instagram, appears to show the man with his eyes closed and leaning back in his seat. His hands are not on the wheel of his white Tesla.

A geolocation tag on the post suggests the man is driving on the M2 Motorway, a major roadway that travels from Sydney's north-west towards the North Shore and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

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The post was captioned with "arvo snooze", in a reference to the driver appearing to be asleep despite being in the driver's seat of the car.

After a few seconds, the man, who is wearing a seatbelt, opens his eyes and puts his hands on the steering wheel, waving a hand towards the person filming him, potentially looking to signal he is alert and awake.

The man was most likely using Tesla's Autopilot mode, which can allow the driver to use cruise control to maintain the speed of the car while also holding a safe distance between other cars on the road.

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It also offers an autosteer setting, where the car maintains a set speed if there is no car in front, and automatically detects lane markings, road edges and the presence of other objects on the road to keep the car in its lane.

Tesla's official website states users must still be fully attentive while engaged in Autopilot mode.

It says that if the car detects the driver not paying enough attention, they will be locked out of autopilot mode.

Some Tesla models also have a fully self-driving mode, however, the use of fully self-driving cars is currently not legal in Australia.