Just catching up with this thread.
I predicted this a while ago, in the Short Term Stock Price thread. The weakest part of the autopilot system lies between the driver's seat and the steering wheel.
Tesla, which always gets an F in communications, is once again failing to do the right thing -- communicate and educate drivers. Every single driver should have to go through a training video that appears in the car's screens before they're allowed to engage autopilot the first time.
Autopilot driving is a whole new kind of driving. Unfortunately every day more people buy Teslas, we increase the chance that some of them just don't get what they need to be doing -- paying more attention not less. When you drive on your own, it's up to you to keep an eye on everything going on in 360 degrees... full situational awareness.
Autopilot hardware begins to reduce people's natural tendency to at least try to maintain 360-degree situational awareness. The hardware and software are spun as augmenting that awareness, sure, and 99% of the time they do. But some humans are going to drop the ball... tune out... doze off... daydream... check their smartphones... fiddle with the 17" screen one second too long... and they're going to get into a situation that the software and hardware simply cannot handle.
Remember, if you drive an average (hypothetical) 60 minutes per day total, and do fine 99% of the time with autopilot, that means 36 seconds out of each days' driving might encounter glitches, unexpected scenarios, situations that autopilot can't handle. Are you going to be alert during those 36 seconds? Every single day, forever?
Now multiply that by tens of thousands of Tesla owners, driving every day in their autopilot-powered vehicle.
As I mentioned in the other thread a while back, I figure it's only a matter of time before a few drivers reach the end of their good luck streak, and bad things happen. I just hope we don't have another news cycle like we had with the car f*res a few years ago, that sent the stock into a slump. Tesla's not going to be able to add a tungsten metal bar underneath the car this time.
I also predict that long-term, DMVs around the country are going to start requiring autopilot training as part of getting a drivers license. Do you think airline pilots don't get trained on how to use and when not to use autopilot? Of course they get trained. Why should it be different on the ground?