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Tesla Says That “Neither Autopilot nor FSD Capability Is an Autonomous System"

Eight years ago, an overpromising Elon Musk paved the way for Autopilot by making a parallel to autopilot systems found in airliners from Boeing and Airbus. There is, however, a bit of a problem with the name of the semi-autonomous driving system because Autopilot is a portmanteau that combines automation and piloting. In other words, there are customers who take Autopilot as a full self-driving system although it isn't one.
Tesla's stance on Autopilot and FSD 25 photos
Photo: plainsite.org
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Standard on all models since April 2019, Autopilot can be upgraded with FSD Capability Beta. Tesla says that full-self driving capability isn’t actually the full-self driving capability some of us may imagine, but a selection of semi-autonomous features that require the driver's attention and intervention.

Adding insult to injury, Tesla regulatory counsel Eric C. Williams recently told the California DMV that “a final release of City Streets will continue to be a Level 2 advanced driver-assistance feature.” Coming courtesy of plainsite.org, a selection of e-mails between the Palo Alto-based automaker and California's Department of Motor Vehicles is attached at the end of this story as a PDF.

$10,000 for partial autonomy isn’t exactly right, but there’s more than meets the eye because no legal framework exists for Level 3 semi-autonomous technology in the United States. Given these circumstances, it makes no sense at all to dub these systems Autopilot and Full-Self Driving Capability.

Confusing semantics have always been a part of the automotive industry, attracting the ire of many people. However, the elephant in the room comes in the form of safety risks posed by Tesla’s marketing department because Level 2 is just traffic-sensitive cruise control for both steering and speed.

We all heard those headlines about drivers who crashed their Autopilot-equipped Teslas while sleeping, playing games, and whatnots. The National Transportation Safety Board recommended more effective safeguards on numerous occasions, yet Tesla hasn’t done a thing in this regard.

On that worrying note, here’s another compelling quote from the regulatory counsel: “Currently neither Autopilot nor FSD Capability is an autonomous system, and currently no comprising feature, whether singularly or collectively, is autonomous or makes our vehicles autonomous.”
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 Download: Tesla and California DMV e-mails (PDF)

About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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