3 ms·

Tell Tesla marketing that. They have autopilot already!

• dmix 10y ago
  Airplanes have had autopilot forever. In that context we don't expect that phrase to mean "autonomous flying". Anyone who knows anything about airplane autopilot knows to expect the pilot to engage autopilot at certain non-critical moments and always be ready to take over for the difficult parts. Tesla's autopilot is no different. They clearly state it's intended for certain parts of highway driving. Like a glorified cruise control, much like autopilot is used in other fields. I don't believe they've ever tried to market their tech as a totally self-driving vehicle. So why then should Tesla not call their assisted-driving "autopilot"? When our current common-sense understanding of "autopilot" in other industries has worked just fine? Maybe because it's not marketing by a single trendy firm so you can't attack it with your superior intellect? Or maybe you also expect airplane manufacturers and pilots to stop calling their tech "autopilot" because it might mean something else, now that autonomous cars are becomes a thing... and we wouldn't want to confuse anybody who can't grasp context and commonly accepted meanings of phrases...