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The day that Musk decided to call his driver-assist system "Autopilot" he lost my respect as an engineer and my business as a consumer. It's a great brand for

The day that Musk decided to call his driver-assist system "Autopilot" he lost my respect as an engineer and my business as a consumer. It's a great brand for a L4 - L5 system, not for Tesla's realistic capabilities as a L2 (1) - it sets a dangerous precedent in the consumer's mind. Their tepid response to this incident outlining that the driver was not fully engaged so Tesla is not at fault, is EXACTLY how the system is used by the average consumer due to the way it's branded and marketed. (1) https://www.caranddriver.com/features/path-to-autonomy-self-driving-car-levels-0-to-5-explained-feature https://www.caranddriver.com/features/path-to-autonomy-self-...

cycrutchfield 9y ago
I would say it’s pretty accurate if you are familiar with how plane autopilots actually work.
- bdcravens 9y ago
  What % of Tesla owners have a pilot's license?
- King-Aaron 9y ago
  Unfortunately, most people attribute the word 'autopilot' with the way Otto performed in the movie Airplane!...
- draggnar 9y ago
  Or a boat autopilot.
- hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
  How many car drivers do you think are familiar with the details of how plane autopilots really work? If Tesla had called this something like "lane-assist adaptive cruise control" I think your average Joe would have had much more realistic expectations around how the technology actually functions.
  - maratd 9y ago
    > If Tesla had called this something like "lane-assist adaptive cruise control" I think your average Joe would have had much more realistic expectations around how the technology actually functions. Which would be foolish on their part, since it would equate their system with that found on other cars. The systems found on other cars are garbage to the point of being unusable. The system that Tesla has is in a different class.
    - rtpg 9y ago
      Is this true? I thought other luxury car brands are now shipping with self driving of similar capabilities to Tesla at this point. Or maybe it's just the sensors being the same...
      - TAForObvReasons 9y ago
        Luxury car brands ship with a limited feature set that reflects an appropriate conservatism. For example, they can detect cars in your blind spot and warn you, and they can put the brakes if someone short stops ahead of you. They have many of the required sensors but are waiting for the tech to mature
        davidgay 9y ago
        Non-luxury cars (Subaru) are shipping with more than that (lane following, adaptive cruise control).
        eclipxe 9y ago
        This is not true. BMW 5 and 7 series have adaptive cruise control and lane centering. I had a Tesla and now have a 5 series and the 5 series Lane centering is on par with Tesla’s autopilot. The only thing it lacks in the US is auto lane change (but it works in other countries).
      - Amezarak 9y ago
        Not just luxury cars, even economy cars are shipping with adaptive cruise control, automatic lane-keeping, and automatic collision avoidance, and (at least the ones I've tried) work fantastically. On the highway you really don't have to do anything.
- efraim 9y ago
  Almonst no one is familiar with how plane autopilots work. And in a plane you don't drive into a barrier or off the road if you don't pay attention for a few seconds like you can do in a car, unless you're flying very close to the ground. A plane can be said to be flying itself if it's just keeping it's course but to drive a car you need to pay more attention to the surroundings.
  - cycrutchfield 9y ago
    >Almonst no one is familiar with how plane autopilots work. OK... >And in a plane you don't drive into a barrier or off the road if you don't pay attention for a few seconds like you can do in a car, unless you're flying very close to the ground. A plane can be said to be flying itself if it's just keeping it's course but to drive a car you need to pay more attention to the surroundings. I think you just proved your first point here.
- slavik81 9y ago
  The skies and the seas are a lot different than the roads. They're mostly empty, while land is full of obstacles. You can tell a drone autopilot to circle at 600ft and go to lunch. It will be there when you get back. The equivalent for a Tesla might be circling the block for an hour unattended. The Tesla is far more advanced, but it achieves less, because the environment requires more.
- oldgradstudent 9y ago
  Actually, no. For most of the flight, pilots have enough time (and are often required) to go over paper checklists. With the Tesla Autopilot, taking your eyes for 5 second off the road gets you killed.
- TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
  Flight paths used while aircraft autopilots are engaged tend to have significantly fewer solid-object barriers. That should be sufficient reason to not call it Autopilot. We aren't flying here, it's a ground vehicle.
- decker 9y ago
  Airplane autopilot is designed to drive cars into solid barriers? That's news to me.
- buvanshak 9y ago
  If Tesla's "autopilot" is turned into a martial arts master https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_vvI26NnwE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_vvI26NnwE
slg 9y ago
To be fair this is mostly a problem with the general public's understanding of the term autopilot and not with the actual systems that have used that name before. Aeronautical autopilots would probably only be classified as level 1 or maybe level 2 when that term was first coined and used to describe them. Even now I am not sure if we would classify the average autopilots you find on a commercial airliner as being fully at level 4.
- sjwright 9y ago
  > this is mostly a problem with the general public's understanding of the term autopilot In other words, it's the customer's fault. And it's arguable that Tesla benefited from this misunderstanding.
  - slg 9y ago
    There is a difference between the customer being at fault in controlling the car and a customer being at fault for not learning the basics about features of the car. I don't think we can make the first a universal rule, but I wouldn't think it is controversial for the second to be universal.
    - sjwright 9y ago
      I agree that customers should learn how their cars work. But if we all engineered products based on how customers should behave, the human race would be extinct.
- ubernostrum 9y ago
  Modern aircraft autopilot systems are often used in an L1-L3 way by that scale, but are capable of at least L4. The flight-management systems of modern commercial aircraft can, for example, receive a flight plan expressed as a set of waypoints and information about the destination airport, and then fly the plane along that route and conduct a fully automated landing at the destination.
  - 9y ago
dgudkov 9y ago
The right brand for this should've been "Child driver". Because if a driving system needs to be controlled all the time it's very much like a child sitting on dad's laps and trying to drive the car.

cycrutchfield 9y ago

I would say it’s pretty accurate if you are familiar with how plane autopilots actually work.

bdcravens 9y ago
What % of Tesla owners have a pilot's license?
King-Aaron 9y ago
Unfortunately, most people attribute the word 'autopilot' with the way Otto performed in the movie Airplane!...
draggnar 9y ago
Or a boat autopilot.
hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
How many car drivers do you think are familiar with the details of how plane autopilots really work? If Tesla had called this something like "lane-assist adaptive cruise control" I think your average Joe would have had much more realistic expectations around how the technology actually functions.
- maratd 9y ago
  > If Tesla had called this something like "lane-assist adaptive cruise control" I think your average Joe would have had much more realistic expectations around how the technology actually functions. Which would be foolish on their part, since it would equate their system with that found on other cars. The systems found on other cars are garbage to the point of being unusable. The system that Tesla has is in a different class.
  - rtpg 9y ago
    Is this true? I thought other luxury car brands are now shipping with self driving of similar capabilities to Tesla at this point. Or maybe it's just the sensors being the same...
    - TAForObvReasons 9y ago
      Luxury car brands ship with a limited feature set that reflects an appropriate conservatism. For example, they can detect cars in your blind spot and warn you, and they can put the brakes if someone short stops ahead of you. They have many of the required sensors but are waiting for the tech to mature
      - davidgay 9y ago
        Non-luxury cars (Subaru) are shipping with more than that (lane following, adaptive cruise control).
      - eclipxe 9y ago
        This is not true. BMW 5 and 7 series have adaptive cruise control and lane centering. I had a Tesla and now have a 5 series and the 5 series Lane centering is on par with Tesla’s autopilot. The only thing it lacks in the US is auto lane change (but it works in other countries).
    - Amezarak 9y ago
      Not just luxury cars, even economy cars are shipping with adaptive cruise control, automatic lane-keeping, and automatic collision avoidance, and (at least the ones I've tried) work fantastically. On the highway you really don't have to do anything.
efraim 9y ago
Almonst no one is familiar with how plane autopilots work. And in a plane you don't drive into a barrier or off the road if you don't pay attention for a few seconds like you can do in a car, unless you're flying very close to the ground. A plane can be said to be flying itself if it's just keeping it's course but to drive a car you need to pay more attention to the surroundings.
- cycrutchfield 9y ago
  >Almonst no one is familiar with how plane autopilots work. OK... >And in a plane you don't drive into a barrier or off the road if you don't pay attention for a few seconds like you can do in a car, unless you're flying very close to the ground. A plane can be said to be flying itself if it's just keeping it's course but to drive a car you need to pay more attention to the surroundings. I think you just proved your first point here.
slavik81 9y ago
The skies and the seas are a lot different than the roads. They're mostly empty, while land is full of obstacles. You can tell a drone autopilot to circle at 600ft and go to lunch. It will be there when you get back. The equivalent for a Tesla might be circling the block for an hour unattended. The Tesla is far more advanced, but it achieves less, because the environment requires more.
oldgradstudent 9y ago
Actually, no. For most of the flight, pilots have enough time (and are often required) to go over paper checklists. With the Tesla Autopilot, taking your eyes for 5 second off the road gets you killed.
TheSpiceIsLife 9y ago
Flight paths used while aircraft autopilots are engaged tend to have significantly fewer solid-object barriers. That should be sufficient reason to not call it Autopilot. We aren't flying here, it's a ground vehicle.
decker 9y ago
Airplane autopilot is designed to drive cars into solid barriers? That's news to me.
buvanshak 9y ago
If Tesla's "autopilot" is turned into a martial arts master https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_vvI26NnwE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_vvI26NnwE

slg 9y ago

To be fair this is mostly a problem with the general public's understanding of the term autopilot and not with the actual systems that have used that name before. Aeronautical autopilots would probably only be classified as level 1 or maybe level 2 when that term was first coined and used to describe them. Even now I am not sure if we would classify the average autopilots you find on a commercial airliner as being fully at level 4.

sjwright 9y ago
> this is mostly a problem with the general public's understanding of the term autopilot In other words, it's the customer's fault. And it's arguable that Tesla benefited from this misunderstanding.
- slg 9y ago
  There is a difference between the customer being at fault in controlling the car and a customer being at fault for not learning the basics about features of the car. I don't think we can make the first a universal rule, but I wouldn't think it is controversial for the second to be universal.
  - sjwright 9y ago
    I agree that customers should learn how their cars work. But if we all engineered products based on how customers should behave, the human race would be extinct.
ubernostrum 9y ago
Modern aircraft autopilot systems are often used in an L1-L3 way by that scale, but are capable of at least L4. The flight-management systems of modern commercial aircraft can, for example, receive a flight plan expressed as a set of waypoints and information about the destination airport, and then fly the plane along that route and conduct a fully automated landing at the destination.
- 9y ago

dgudkov 9y ago

The right brand for this should've been "Child driver". Because if a driving system needs to be controlled all the time it's very much like a child sitting on dad's laps and trying to drive the car.