Googler Caught Illegally Chatting Behind the Wheel of Self-Driving Prius

Apparently not content to test a computer's ability to drive one of those autonomous Priuses, a Google engineer was spotted testing California's hands-free cell phone law by chatting from the driver's seat (but you know, not actually driving) while cruising around near Google HQ in Mountain View. Is it still hand-free if you have to hold the phone, but not the steering wheel? [Jalopnik]