Lots of crazy stories.. I have read so many stories like these in this forum. One of them actually convinced me to not go ahead with my MS order.
Is the typical response "you have to be ready to take over" enough? Can't a case be made that autopilot is unsafe?
Autopilot in its current form, based on my ~1000 miles of driving on autopilot since owning the car, is a bit of an odds game.
So long as it doesn't do one of its crazy things at the exact wrong moment it is not unsafe.
The problem is, you aren't comparing it to perfect, you are comparing it to human drivers.
Even more of a problem is you aren't comparing it to an individual human driver you are comparing it to (i would assume) the mean driver (+/- a standard deviation). Who knows what exact metrics they are using but seems reasonable for nonsense talk here.
In that case, if you are an incredibly safe and attentive driver and your skills exceed that of the "average driver plus a standard deviation" then the data may actually tell you that in your individual case autopilot is less safe.
However, if you are on the other end of that curve it would be better if you just let autopilot take over.
The thing is, we are talking large sets of data with very poorly defined outcomes with lots of noise and unknown variables having a great effect on those outcomes.
I worry about my autopilot (that is a good thing).
What I don't worry about is my safety.
I know that when I am driving my Model S I am in control and am ready to take over at any time. I also know that it is much more likely that on autopilot or not, given my driving habits and concern for safety, it is much more likely someone else will be the cause of any accident I am in. In which case, I know that I am in the safest car I could possibly be in when the unavoidable accident does occur.
Buying the car may be an emotional decision. It is for many of us. We are likely carrying a lot of baggage with us as we are making that decision which will cause a number of biases which impact the objective rationality of our decision.
Given the opportunity, a human will usually try to find information which confirms their original hypothesis rather than try to find information which disputes it. I think we are all guilty of that bias (Tesla, media, and owners).
When all is said and done, none of us have much time left anyways so do what makes you happy.