[rayiner]

Weird pro-Tesla, anti-airliner FUD. A modern airline’s autopilot will handle everything between takeoff and landing, and can land the plane if needed. The A380 auto pilot has been able to respond to TCAS (collision avoidance system) advisories automatically for almost a decade.

GA autopilots may be more limited, but that’s not what the general public is thinking of when you say autopilot.

[JackCh]

I'd wager the general public has overestimated the capabilities of aviation autopilots for quite a long time and only recently have common autopilot systems begun to approach what the public thinks about them. For instance in 1947 a USAF C-54 is reported to have taken off, crossed the Atlantic and landed on autopilot (all under very careful supervision). Needless to say autoland on commercial airliners would not be near ubiquitous for many years following that, but I suspect the general public did not have an accurate understanding of this. Furthermore I suspect many among the general public greatly overestimate the extent to which autopilot controlled take-off exists. "Pilots just push button and take a nap" is a sentiment I've often heard expressed, perhaps only partially in jest.

This is far from a defense of Tesla. On the contrary, the public's ignorance about what capabilities are implied by 'autopilot' suggest to me that Tesla should not be using the word.

[CaptainZapp]

The capabilities you have with automation in modern planes is amazing.

I once had the privilege to sit in the cockpit during an entire flight. That was in the late nineties and probably would be completely out of the question nowadays.

The weather and visibility were shitty and what was really interesting was that they initiated the landing automatically, but when the runway become visible (about 400 meters) the first officer took over and landed the plane manually.

Two other things I learned is the amount of manuals they have available in that very cramped space (maybe maintained electronically nowadays) and that when you think that they just key in a couple sequences into the flight management system to then play solitaire you would be very wrong.

Both pilots where permanently active and on high alert during the entire one hour flight. That may be a bit more relaxed on long distance flights, but people who believe it's like driving a bus are really, really wrong.

it was an amazing and very interesting experience.

[sitharus]

You’re correct, an airline autopilot can do all that under _continual pilot supervision_. The autopilot also cannot communicate with ATC so pilots will adjust the flight path in flight to account for ATC instructions and changing weather. It’s not hands-off.

[ssambros]

It is "hands off", it is not "situational awareness off". And airplane autopilots do not require split-second interventions if something goes wrong, the buffer is usually in a couple of seconds range. Even then trained pilots sometimes fail to correctly take over the flying duties (see Air France Flight 447).

Tesla is claiming that if the drivers hands are not on the wheel then they are not responsible what what their "autopilot" does.