[scoot]

One again though, people are forgetting that "Autopilot" is just a marketing name for adavanced lane assist and adaptive cruise control (albeit of a relatively sophisticated variety). Expecting it to be able to cope with anything outside routine road conditions is a fools errand.

[masklinn]

> people are forgetting that "Autopilot" is just a marketing name for adavanced lane assist and adaptive cruise control

That, though, is due to intentionally deceitful branding.

[pps43]

Tesla autopilot is not that different from its namesake in airplanes. Autopilot does not fly the plane from JFK to LAX, it only maintains speed, altitude and heading. If anything unusual happens, autopilot disengages and drops controls back to the pilot.

So Tesla is not deceiving anyone.

[masklinn]

> Tesla autopilot is not that different from its namesake in airplanes.

Which is not at all how popular culture shows it, and thus not what people assume when they hear "autopilot".

> Autopilot does not fly the plane from JFK to LAX, it only maintains speed, altitude and heading.

There are autopilots which can do everything but taxiing and takeoff[0].

> So Tesla is not deceiving anyone.

Tesla is not deceiving actual pilots of airplanes large enough to have an autopilot old enough to only support stable flight maintenance. I'm sure that's great for all 10 of them.

Meanwhile, in the actual world there have been examples too numerous to count of people who pretty much expect the car to drive itself. Which I expect is exactly what the people who picked the term wanted: make it seem magic for the sales, but be technically correct enough that it covers your ass (and you can blame the driver) when it invariably fucks up.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoland

[forgottenpass]

So Tesla is not deceiving anyone.

Pilots must be trained to the capabilities and limits of autopilot in airplains before they can use it. They wouldn't be confused to the capability of flight instruments by their branding.

The regular person not only thinks autopilot is a magic make-the-plane-go computer, they also think the Tesla Autopilot is different in class than the same featureset with a boring moniker.

[SEJeff]

From Tesla's own website:

    Enhanced Autopilot
    Enhanced Autopilot adds these new capabilities to the Tesla Autopilot driving experience. Your Tesla will match speed to traffic conditions, keep within a lane, automatically change lanes without requiring driver input, transition from one freeway to another, exit the freeway when your destination is near, self-park when near a parking spot and be summoned to and from your garage.
    
    Tesla’s Enhanced Autopilot software has begun rolling out and features will continue to be introduced as validation is completed, subject to regulatory approval.

Seems pretty sensible and not deceptive to me. To me, that says cruise control++, and not full self driving. The AP2 does do all of the things it says above, just depending on the roads. They say that Teslas have the hardware for full self driving, but not that they're capable of it yet.

[masklinn]

"Hey if you read the fine print and ignore all of the popular culture associated with the term it does exactly what you're sold on".

> To me, that says cruise control++

Here's an idea: call it "cruise control++", or call it "drive assistance", or call it anything which clearly spells out that it doesn't drive on its own.

AKA more or less every other car brand does.

[rohit2412]

And they will never believe you. Elon musk said he'll run a coast to coast self driving car this year and also unveil Tesla network, the self driving Uber competitor.