[jads]

Agreed, though Tesla's autopilot feature explicitly makes it clear it's not self driving. It's still an assistance, albeit a very good one, somewhat true to the definition that an autopilot system "doesn't replace the human operator".

I do think Tesla have their work cut out in distinguishing what autopilot actually is vs the general Persephone that autopilot means "it controls itself, autonomously".

[lightcatcher]

I agree there's a lot of (potentially dangerous) ambiguity in what the name "autopilot" means and implies.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the name "autopilot" for 2 reasons.

Firstly, the name is sexy and filled with hype. Even for a fully autonomous "driver go to sleep" level 4 driving system, "autopilot" would be a great sounding name (much better than "full autonomy" or anything more explicit in my opinion).

Secondly, the name deviates from industry semi-standard naming such as "cruise control" or "lane assist". I don't believe Tesla's automated features are more advanced than the rest of the industry[0], but the name sounds more advanced. Maybe this is good marketing, maybe this is dangerous and deceitful, maybe both.

[0] I'm not an expert on the state of self-driving systems. If anyone here who is reads this and has some evidence that Tesla's autopilot features are more advanced that what's offered by Audi (for example), I'd love to hear why / see some sources.