The 35-year-old man is undergoing psychiatric evaluation after forcing the busy road into lockdown for three hours this morning.
The incident began at about 4:00am (AEST) after a motorist reported a broken down prime mover on the freeway near Toorak Road at Glen Iris.
When police arrived and approached the driver they found he had what appeared to be a suspicious device strapped to his head.
The man refused to cooperate with police and drove off at speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour, heading straight for oncoming traffic.
"The police were able to quickly evacuate all the people that were at the Toorak Road intersection and move them right back out of the danger from this truck," Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Martin Bourke said.
"Fortunately for us he managed to stop the vehicle just short of the civilian's vehicles."
The bomb squad was called to the scene and confirmed the suspicious device was not a bomb.
Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Bourke said the man was talking to police but he was not making any sense.
"He appeared to have some form of mental condition that was affecting his ability to speak with us," he said.
"After 10 minutes of negotiation he got out of the vehicle. He took his clothes off of his own free accord.
"He removed the device and walked towards police where he did exactly what he was told and surrendered."
The man, from Caulfield South, has been taken to the Alfred Hospital for evaluation and is expected to be charged after being interviewed by police.
The freeway was closed for about three hours in the morning peak.