This is the shocking moment a woman was filmed applying make up while driving her £80,000 Tesla along the fast lane of the M25.

A passenger in a coach was able to look down into the electric car and see that the woman driving was not using her hands on the steering wheel.

The Tesla has an autopilot mode which uses a series of cameras and radar to watch surrounding traffic.

The system is capable of steering the car and adjusting the speed to cope with the traffic conditions, but under UK regulations, the driver cannot remove both hands from the steering wheel, or use a hand held mobile phone.

The 46-year-old passenger, who wishes to remain anonymous told MailOnline: 'I saw a lady applying her make-up whilst in the fast lane. She was driving a Tesla, so using Autopilot function, no hands on steering wheels at any point.

'I saw her closing her makeup compact and then relaxing with no hands on the wheel. She was also using her mobile phone.

'I was looking out the window and saw the Tesla and thought ‘Oh that’s a Tesla’ then noticed that she was doing her makeup with the sun visor down.

A woman was filmed applying make up while driving along the M25 near Heathrow Airport, taking both hands from the steering wheel

The woman was driving an £80,000 electric powered Tesla which is fitted with autopilot mode

'Initially I actually thought it was cool, I like technology.. but then it became shocking to watch. She was doing her makeup with no attention to the road – I thought it was extremely unsafe.'

The section of the M25 near Heathrow is Britain's busiest road with 219,000 vehicles using that stretch every day.

According to Rebecca Ashton, RoadSmart Head of Driver Behaviour at the Institute of Advanced Motorists: 'Driving a car with advanced assistance features does not mean you can allow yourself to be distracted when behind the wheel.

'Vehicles which offer these advanced systems still need the driver to have total supervision with their hands on the wheel and ready to act if necessary.

'The level of assistance offered should not be confused with a self-driving vehicle, this technology is only there to assist the driver not to take over the driving.

'Allowing yourself to be distracted and carrying out other tasks while in control of the vehicle is potentially extremely dangerous and could result in a prosecution for driving without due care or worse.

'As we transition to ever more intelligent vehicles we need to make sure we fully understand the limitations of the technology on our vehicles, using it to assist rather than take over the responsibility of driving, responsibility remains with the driver and all the current laws and rules of the road still apply.'

According to Tesla: 'Many of these videos appear to be dangerous pranks or hoaxes.

'Our driver-monitoring system repeatedly reminds drivers to remain engaged and prohibits the use of Autopilot when warnings are ignored.

'At highway speeds, drivers typically receive warnings every 30 seconds or less if their hands aren’t detected on the wheel.

'Tesla owners have driven billions of miles using Autopilot, and data from our quarterly Vehicle Safety Report indicates that drivers using Autopilot experience fewer accidents than those operating without assistance.'

The government has been promoting the development of driverless cars, funding a 70km roadway for their testing.

Minister for State for the Future of Transport George Freeman launched the facility at the Autonomous Village facility in Bedford.

A departmental official said: '[This is] a self-driving vehicle test facility at Millbrook-Culham with 70km of secure test tracks, a private mobile network and a simulator suite.

'This will be part of a network of self-driving vehicle test facilities across the country, co-ordinated by UK automated vehicle company Zenzic. The new ground will allow developers to safely challenge systems and collect data, to help fine-tune software, sensors, 5G telecommunications and cyber security systems.'