But Tesla calls it "autopilot"

[Teefal]

Reading the manual for my new Model Y. The same text appears five times in the five pages:

"Always watch the road in front of you and be prepared to
take corrective action at all times. Failure to do so
can result in serious injury or death."

It says the same thing in other ways another five times in the same five pages, and very clearly in the car when you first turn on these features.

This advice also happens to be common sense. For Tesla to be getting flak for the term "autopilot" (disallowed in Germany) and the handful of high profile crashes ... feels like other agendas are in play. Perhaps I'm naive, but I'm less scared of auto-pilot than teenagers.

Also, the term auto-pilot is misunderstood by the public. "It can land itself" doesn't mean they let it land itself. We still have two pilots that do their job (except in Airplane of course).

 

[Rockster]

I don't actually think that Apple or Amazon stores my data in the cloud. Nor did I think Justin Long was actually a Macintosh computer. Like most reasonable people, I’m able to recognize marketing language and distinguish it from reality. Tesla’s advertising verbiage, instructional documentation, and user interface clearly explains the reality that is “autopilot.”

Unfortunately, there will always be people who choose to paint themselves as victims rather than take responsibility for their own poor judgement and there will always be those who legitimatize such thinking, rather than condemn it.

 

[diplomat33]

Reading the manual for my new Model Y. The same text appears five times in the five pages:

"Always watch the road in front of you and be prepared to
take corrective action at all times. Failure to do so
can result in serious injury or death."

It says the same thing in other ways another five times in the same five pages, and very clearly in the car when you first turn on these features.

This advice also happens to be common sense. For Tesla to be getting flak for the term "autopilot" (disallowed in Germany) and the handful of high profile crashes ... feels like other agendas are in play. Perhaps I'm naive, but I'm less scared of auto-pilot than teenagers.

Also, the term auto-pilot is misunderstood by the public. "It can land itself" doesn't mean they let it land itself. We still have two pilots that do their job (except in Airplane of course).

The problem is not the use of the term "autopilot". If Tesla just stuck to the term "autopilot", I think they would be fine. The real problem is that Tesla uses of the term "full self-driving" which does imply that the driver does not need to do anything and that is certainly not the case.

 

[hellocar]

Airplane autopilots don’t necessarily avoid obstacles or other airplanes. Don’t they still require pilot supervision in most cases? Seems like Tesla’s use of the word Autopilot is consistent with how it’s been used up till now.

 

[ThomasD]

Will they have to program the cars for audible sounds such as Police and Fire vehicles? Unprotected rail road crossings such as lights and/ or the sound of a Train horn?

 

[hgmichna]

the term "autopilot" (disallowed in Germany)

Do you have any proof of that? To my knowledge Tesla and others may use the term "autopilot".

 

[Teefal]

Germany Says Tesla Can't Advertise Autopilot, Autonomous Driving

 

[Eno Deb]

Also, the term auto-pilot is misunderstood by the public. "It can land itself" doesn't mean they let it land itself. We still have two pilots that do their job (except in Airplane of course).

But this is a reality that carmakers need to take into account in their marketing. The vast majority of consumers are not pilots, all they know about auto-pilot systems is what they saw in Hollywood movies.

The IIHS recently published a study that showed that just the name "Autopilot" made it more likely for people to think they can take their hands of the wheel and do other things:

New studies highlight driver confusion about automated systems

"Despite the limitations of today's systems, some of their names seem to overpromise when it comes to the degree to which the driver can shift their attention away from the road. One name in particular — Autopilot — signals to drivers that they can turn their thoughts and their eyes elsewhere, an IIHS survey found.
[...]
When asked whether it would be safe to take one's hands off the wheel while using the technology, 48 percent of people asked about Autopilot said they thought it would be, compared with 33 percent or fewer for the other systems. Autopilot also had substantially greater proportions of people who thought it would be safe to look at scenery, read a book, talk on a cellphone or text. Six percent thought it would be OK to take a nap while using Autopilot, compared with 3 percent for the other systems."

 

[Teefal]

These are not surveys of people that were shown a warning when they turned the feature on.

 

[Eno Deb]

These are not surveys of people that were shown a warning when they turned the feature on.

Maybe, but for one, I bet the majority of drivers never read the manual and at best casually read the small print that pops up on the screen. Second, it's not only about educating owners but also about misleading advertising (this was explicitly mentioned by the German court that banned Tesla from using certain phrases). Between the fake self-driving videos and Musk's constant "it's just around the corner" hype, I don't find Tesla's marketing regarding Autopilot and "full self driving" particularly honest.