If subtle digs were arrows, Elon Musk would be bleeding profusely by now. At least, that’s what industry watchers like to imagine goes through the mind of the Powers That Be at Waymo.
On January 6, Waymo announced its decision to switch terminology from “self-driving” to “fully autonomous driving,” in preparation for a new year of transparency and sharing updates with the community. The switch, the blog post says, is not trivial, despite appearances.
Waymo speaks of using “more deliberate language” and, perhaps unsurprisingly given the word-sparring with Tesla on the same topic, gets on a high horse to criticize automakers who use the “self-driving” term erroneously. But this is more than just good ol’ rivalry on the AV market, though: “precision in language matters and could save lives,” Waymo says.
“We’re hopeful that consistency will help differentiate the fully autonomous technology Waymo is developing from driver-assist technologies (sometimes erroneously referred to as ‘self-driving’ technologies) that require oversight from licensed human drivers for safe operation,” reads the announcement.
“This is more than just a branding or linguistic exercise,” Waymo says. “Unfortunately, we see that some automakers use the term ‘self-driving’ in an inaccurate way, giving consumers and the general public a false impression of the capabilities of driver assist (not fully autonomous) technology. That false impression can lead someone to unknowingly take risks (like taking their hands off the steering wheel) that could jeopardize not only their own safety but the safety of people around them. Coalescing around standard terminology will not just prevent misunderstanding and confusion, it will also save lives.”
The post ends with the announcement that the Waymo public education campaign has been renamed Let’s Talk Autonomous Driving.
Tesla, as you might have noticed, is not mentioned anywhere, but it’s no secret that the two companies have been trading jabs on Twitter for a while. Waymo even took issue with Tesla calling its latest update, FSD (“full self driving”), since it still requires human supervision. Oppositely, Waymo cars specifically ask the human passenger to leave all the driving to them.
The message here is that, because Tesla and other carmakers (but mostly Tesla, though), misuse the “self-driving” term, Waymo, which operates a self-driving fleet, is distancing itself linguistically.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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