> while pretending to enforce an always alert driver.

To be fair amongst automakers, not many other mass-market car is different (right now) - they only auto-steer if the user applies torque to the wheel periodically and beep at the driver if torque isn't applied every 10/30 seconds (30 seconds is only set for interstates from my experience). Only sometime this year will the Ford Mustang Mach-E get an optional $600 upgrade to enable hands-off-the-wheel driving which uses hardware (already installed) in the steering wheel to monitor the driver's road attentiveness[0].

0: https://www.slashgear.com/ford-active-drive-assist-mustang-m....

e: no other -> not many other - apparently Cadillac has eye tracking