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I really don't understand how Tesla markets something as "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving" and then also says "oh it's beta" and "you must be ready to take co

I really don't understand how Tesla markets something as "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving" and then also says "oh it's beta" and "you must be ready to take control of the car at any second".

thathndude 4y ago
I’m a lawyer, and I don’t get it. How hasn’t the FCC shut them down? I get it, they have an asterisk, and the asterisk makes clear that it’s not full self driving. But this feels to me like selling a product as boneless, including an asterisk, and then saying “actually not boneless, chew carefully”.
- D13Fd 4y ago
  > How hasn’t the FCC shut them down? Should be FTC, but yeah. This seems like a clear case of an unfair and deceptive trade practice that (literally, physically) injures consumers.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
paulcole 4y ago
It’s not autopilot, it’s Autopilot. They’re making up their own branded feature called Autopilot which is nothing like what any reasonable person would consider to be autopilot. If you go back through the years here, you’ll see increasing care they use with their language: https://web.archive.org/web/*/Tesla.com/autopilot https://web.archive.org/web/*/Tesla.com/autopilot Look at the snake oil they were peddling in 2016: > 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. Not only was this clearly false in 2016, it’s clearly false today, nearly 6 years later.
- Someone 4y ago
  From the viewpoint of Tesla’s marketing and legal departments, the nice thing about that phrase is that there’s no way to prove it clearly is false. Their claim isn’t about their cars; it’s about the fact that some software can be created that gives their cars “a self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver”. Even if they never manage to deliver such software, that’s no proof such software doesn’t exist.

I really don't understand how Tesla markets something as "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving" and then also says "oh it's beta" and "you must be ready to take control of the car at any second".

thathndude 4y ago

I’m a lawyer, and I don’t get it. How hasn’t the FCC shut them down? I get it, they have an asterisk, and the asterisk makes clear that it’s not full self driving. But this feels to me like selling a product as boneless, including an asterisk, and then saying “actually not boneless, chew carefully”.

D13Fd 4y ago
> How hasn’t the FCC shut them down? Should be FTC, but yeah. This seems like a clear case of an unfair and deceptive trade practice that (literally, physically) injures consumers.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

paulcole 4y ago

It’s not autopilot, it’s Autopilot. They’re making up their own branded feature called Autopilot which is nothing like what any reasonable person would consider to be autopilot. If you go back through the years here, you’ll see increasing care they use with their language: https://web.archive.org/web/*/Tesla.com/autopilot https://web.archive.org/web/*/Tesla.com/autopilot Look at the snake oil they were peddling in 2016: > 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. Not only was this clearly false in 2016, it’s clearly false today, nearly 6 years later.

Someone 4y ago
From the viewpoint of Tesla’s marketing and legal departments, the nice thing about that phrase is that there’s no way to prove it clearly is false. Their claim isn’t about their cars; it’s about the fact that some software can be created that gives their cars “a self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver”. Even if they never manage to deliver such software, that’s no proof such software doesn’t exist.