Tesla Big Problem With Autopilot Feature May Come Down To Its Name

Tesla Big Problem With Autopilot Feature May Come Down To Its Name

Federal regulators are investigating Tesla’s Autopilot feature to determine whether it played a role in two recent crashes. Tesla has branded Autopilot as a safety feature and an incremental step toward self-driving cars.

But it doesn’t fulfill the promise implied by the term “autopilot” – by definition, a technology that can drive itself in place of a person. And it's possible that the government could take issue with that contradiction.

In a blog post after the crashes — one of which is the first known self-driving car fatality —Tesla referred to Autopilot as a “driver assistance system,” not autonomous vehicle...continue reading