5 ms·

> but the way it is advertised suggests otherwise. How is it advertised?

jrh206 4y ago
> Tesla cars come standard with advanced hardware capable of providing Autopilot features, and full self-driving capabilities—through software updates designed to improve functionality over time. The marketing is weird. They mix up current capabilities and future aspirations deliberately. For instance, here: > The system is designed to be able to conduct short and long distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat. They actually mean that the system is designed such that "in the future" it will be able to do this. The previous sentence is "All new Tesla cars have the hardware needed in the future for full self-driving in almost all circumstances", and you're supposed to carry that context forward into the following sentence. Another aspiration, which if you weren't reading carefully you might assume was a present capability: > All you will need to do is get in and tell your car where to go. If you don’t say anything, your car will look at your calendar and take you there as the assumed destination. Your Tesla will figure out the optimal route, navigating urban streets, complex intersections and freeways. It's intentionally misleading. https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/autopilot https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/autopilot --- PS. Yes, there are caveats: "Current Autopilot features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous". That doesn't make the rest of the marketing copy clear.
- ghaff 4y ago
  While one would of course hope that people operating automobiles were aware of the limitations of safety and assistive systems, Tesla certainly pushes the boundaries of responsibly disclosing what its vehicles can and can't do--especially in a world where every product manual includes pages and pages of safety warnings that pretty much no one reads.
legolas2412 4y ago
In 2016, a video was published on Tesla's website "this car is driving itself, the driver is there just for legal reasons" https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/799910213851590656 https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/79991021385159065...
CJefferson 4y ago
Let's grab a random page from a few years ago (before the court cases) http://web.archive.org/web/20180202042014/https://www.tesla.com/autopilot http://web.archive.org/web/20180202042014/https://www.tesla.... "Full Self-Driving Hardware on All Cars All Tesla vehicles produced in our factory, including Model 3, have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver." Now, I can see how in a court of law you can make various arguments about what that promises, but I can see how someone would interpret that as it can drive better than they do.
- dimitrios1 4y ago
  But it doesn't matter how "someone" interprets it. It matters how lawyers and judges interpret it. "Someone" can interpret it to mean anything -- most people are idiots. I don't say this pejoratively, that's precisely why we need better consumer protection and advertising laws, but as they currently stand, this isn't likely to result in anything.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    >that's precisely why we need better consumer protection and advertising laws There are plenty of laws. Most products come with more pages of safety warnings than are in the rest of the user's manual. And, in California, you're informed that pretty much every building you enter or product you use causes cancer.
    - dimitrios1 4y ago
      I did not say plenteous, I said better, i.e. effective.
xorcist 4y ago
"By Tesla's estimates, owners can estimate to earn $30k a year by turning their car into a robotaxi". (2019)
itsoktocry 4y ago
>How is it advertised? That it's far safer than the average human driver?
- extropy 4y ago
  Not really. That a human driving in conjunction with autopilot enabled is far safer. If anyone would read that as the car driving autonomy being far safer we would have fatal crashes every day.
  - itsoktocry 4y ago
    >That a human driving in conjunction with autopilot enabled is far safer. This is in direct contradiction to Google/Waymo's research on the matter. Does Tesla have research to back up this claim? Of course they do not. Musk is in Brazil as we speak claiming the cars will be driverless within the year.

> Tesla cars come standard with advanced hardware capable of providing Autopilot features, and full self-driving capabilities—through software updates designed to improve functionality over time. The marketing is weird. They mix up current capabilities and future aspirations deliberately. For instance, here: > The system is designed to be able to conduct short and long distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat. They actually mean that the system is designed such that "in the future" it will be able to do this. The previous sentence is "All new Tesla cars have the hardware needed in the future for full self-driving in almost all circumstances", and you're supposed to carry that context forward into the following sentence. Another aspiration, which if you weren't reading carefully you might assume was a present capability: > All you will need to do is get in and tell your car where to go. If you don’t say anything, your car will look at your calendar and take you there as the assumed destination. Your Tesla will figure out the optimal route, navigating urban streets, complex intersections and freeways. It's intentionally misleading. https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/autopilot https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/autopilot --- PS. Yes, there are caveats: "Current Autopilot features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous". That doesn't make the rest of the marketing copy clear.

ghaff 4y ago
While one would of course hope that people operating automobiles were aware of the limitations of safety and assistive systems, Tesla certainly pushes the boundaries of responsibly disclosing what its vehicles can and can't do--especially in a world where every product manual includes pages and pages of safety warnings that pretty much no one reads.

legolas2412 4y ago

In 2016, a video was published on Tesla's website "this car is driving itself, the driver is there just for legal reasons" https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/799910213851590656 https://mobile.twitter.com/elonmusk/status/79991021385159065...

CJefferson 4y ago

Let's grab a random page from a few years ago (before the court cases) http://web.archive.org/web/20180202042014/https://www.tesla.com/autopilot http://web.archive.org/web/20180202042014/https://www.tesla.... "Full Self-Driving Hardware on All Cars All Tesla vehicles produced in our factory, including Model 3, have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver." Now, I can see how in a court of law you can make various arguments about what that promises, but I can see how someone would interpret that as it can drive better than they do.

dimitrios1 4y ago
But it doesn't matter how "someone" interprets it. It matters how lawyers and judges interpret it. "Someone" can interpret it to mean anything -- most people are idiots. I don't say this pejoratively, that's precisely why we need better consumer protection and advertising laws, but as they currently stand, this isn't likely to result in anything.
- ghaff 4y ago
  >that's precisely why we need better consumer protection and advertising laws There are plenty of laws. Most products come with more pages of safety warnings than are in the rest of the user's manual. And, in California, you're informed that pretty much every building you enter or product you use causes cancer.
  - dimitrios1 4y ago
    I did not say plenteous, I said better, i.e. effective.

xorcist 4y ago

"By Tesla's estimates, owners can estimate to earn $30k a year by turning their car into a robotaxi". (2019)

itsoktocry 4y ago

>How is it advertised? That it's far safer than the average human driver?

extropy 4y ago
Not really. That a human driving in conjunction with autopilot enabled is far safer. If anyone would read that as the car driving autonomy being far safer we would have fatal crashes every day.
- itsoktocry 4y ago
  >That a human driving in conjunction with autopilot enabled is far safer. This is in direct contradiction to Google/Waymo's research on the matter. Does Tesla have research to back up this claim? Of course they do not. Musk is in Brazil as we speak claiming the cars will be driverless within the year.