That's a misnomer. Just as autopilot in an airplane requires active attention by a pilot, so too does autopilot in a Tesla require active driver attention.
That quote is from a demo video showing what capabilities will be rolled out in the future when a) the system is ready for the public, and b) regulatory approvals are granted.
People are bad at driving cars. People are impossibly bad in a fashion that can never on average be improved at monitoring a car they aren't driving and reacting fast enough.
60 mph = 88 fps. Reacting 3 seconds late is reacting 256 feet too late especially give the other 240 feet you are going to need to actually stop.
Blaming people for not doing something we knew people couldn't do seems pointless.
Ask 99 out of 100 people, and they'll say an autopilot "makes the plane fly itself." I'm 100% on board with Tesla and most of Musk's other efforts, but calling this system "Autopilot" was negligent.
Are you (speaking to the audience at large, not to the OP) an engineer at Tesla? Did you speak up when they decided to call this thing "Autopilot"? Why or why not?
> and they'll say an autopilot "makes the plane fly itself."
I don't believe in tailoring your marketing for your most ignorant customers. If you ask a Tesla advisor during a test drive, they will very clearly state the car does not drive itself (ask; I've tried more than once to see if they'd say something other than company stance). It is extremely clear in the vehicle's manual and other documentation put front and center for the driver that Autopilot is meant to be an assist, and the driver is responsible at all times. Don't turn on the feature if you're going to ignore the warning messages and legalese.
> I don't believe in tailoring your marketing for your most ignorant customers.
How about tailoring it for your typical customer? That typical customer only learned about autopilot from movies and shows. Or from the popular phrase for spacing out.
With roughly a million cars sold and only a handful of owners dead (6 [1]) from their own mistakes (not paying attention), sounds pretty successful to me. Lots of folks would kill for a 0.000006% fatality failure rate, considering the human failure rate:
> Distracted driving is dangerous, claiming 2,841 lives in 2018 alone. Among those killed: 1,730 drivers, 605 passengers, 400 pedestrians and 77 bicyclists. [2]
Disclaimer: There is some nuance to this. Early Teslas had no Autopilot, some have Autopilot 1 powered by MobileEye, some have Autopilot 2-3 powered by Tesla. I still believe my point regarding statistics stands. Some people have died, but the amount is noise when considering changing the marketing. Pay attention like you’re supposed to and you don’t die.
>> Pay attention like you’re supposed to and you don’t die.
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It’s not automatic. TCAS is a warning system (available given the sensors installed) that provides a resolution advisory. It’s up the pilot to take action.
A very few number of planes do have the capability to integrate this with autopilot but it’s almost always disabled because it can cause cascading collision issues.
