Just because Tesla calls it Autopilot doesn't absolve drivers of responsibility in my mind. Especially since Tesla explicitly says drivers should still be attentive. That said, I agree it's poor marketing.
> If you enable an autopilot, intervention by the pilot is not necessary by definition
Only if you're happy for the aircraft to continue travelling in the same set course.
I guess by the same virtue, driver intervention is also not required if you're willing to let the vehicle travel in the same direction and disregard the firetruck ahead...
Tesla's Autopilot is perfectly capable of maintaining direction/speed of travel, and it even follows the curves of the road most of the time which is presumably more than an aircraft autopilot system can do. It is the driver who is not willing to disregard the obstacles ahead, the same way presumably aircraft pilots are not willing to disregard obstacles in their course and will take over control of the aircraft if there is one.
Nothing wrong with our tendency to avoid obstacles in order to not die, of course, but it's not the autopilot's job since the definition of autopilot is to maintain a set course, as you quoted. You may be confusing it with full self-driving, which doesn't exist yet.
While true, there is like a lot of redondant auxiliary warning system in a plane that work independently of the autopilot.
So if autopilot tried to fly you into a mountain, the humans pilots would have to willingly ignore all the warnings thrown at them (it happened recently, and was qualified as human error).
What is terrifying with Tesla autopilot is that there is seemingly not enough auxiliary warning system. With only two of them (hand on wheel or stop, static object detection) you could have avoided almost all Tesla crashes.
They putted beta vehicle in hand of customers, that’s a choice, now they have to live with it.
I'm glad someone mentioned this. It's frustrating that the general public doesn't understand what the word 'autopilot' means... Otto the automatic pilot from the movie Airplane! isn't what an automatic pilot is.
However, since it is commonly misrepresented, they should change the name of Tesla's system.
General public has little idea of what a plane autopilot can or cannot do. Somewhat ironically, the Tesla Autopilot is quite close to a real plane autopilot in that it’s a rather dumb system that cannot adjust to unexpected events. But Joe R. Driver reads Tesla marketing material and doesn’t realize that, dictionary definition notwithstanding.
It seems like deceptive marketing to me. If I sold shoes with proprietary NailStopper soles, with a disclaimer the soles don't actually stop nails and it's up to the user to make sure they don't step on any, would that be cool?
I'm not saying the marketing is cool. Although your example is fundamentally different since in the "Autopilot" case, you're not just dealing with your own safety, but the safety of others. (Presumably you're not putting others in danger by wearing NailStopper shoes and continuing to step on nails.)
Fair enough. I guess this is a case of something lost in translation. To me, bad marketing is when the marketing doesn't help sell the product. Deceptive marketing misleads the consumer as to what they're being enticed to purchase.
So, now that we pinpointed who is responsible, can we discuss which design leads to many people making deadly errors and which design leads to few people making deadly errors? And how much responsibility the designer when choosing between former and latter?
