Tesla Removes 'Self-driving' From China Website After Beijing Crash (reuters.com)

Last week, a Tesla owner in China blamed electric vehicle's "autopilot" feature for a crash. Amid the reports, Tesla quietly removed the term "self-driving" feature from its Chinese website. Reuters report: The Tesla driver crashed earlier this month while on a Beijing commuter highway after the car failed to avoid a vehicle parked on the left side but partially in the roadway, damaging both cars but causing no injuries. It was the first known such crash in China, although it follows a fatal accident in Florida earlier this year that put pressure on auto executives and regulators to tighten rules for automated driving. A check of Tesla's Chinese website on Sunday showed that the word "autopilot" had also been removed. But that term was subsequently reinstated on Monday. "At Tesla we are continuously making improvements, including to translations," a Tesla spokeswoman said in an emailed statement to Reuters when asked about the removal of the terms "autopilot" and "self-driving."

Comments

Adds "Self Crashing"

[Anonymous Coward]

nt

Re:Adds "Self Crashing"

[Mr D from 63]

I'd be happy with self cleaning.

only works if everyone play by the same rule

[Lead Butthead]

In China, traffic signs and regulations are mostly for "reference" only.

Re:only works if everyone play by the same rule

[ADRA]

I was in a Chinese district where they honk continuously when they pass other vehicles and when they passed through tunnels. Interesting system... very noisy though.

Re:only works if everyone play by the same rule

[wonkey_monkey]

The soundwaves expand the air in front and make it easier to drive through. Totally legit.

Re:only works if everyone play by the same rule

[Anonymous Coward]

That fits in nicely with how Tesla interprets safety regulations.

Re:only works if everyone play by the same rule

[Anonymous Coward]

That doesn't even make sense. It's not "Safest car we've ever tested - Tesla". It's "Safest car we've ever tested - Everyone who has ever tested cars".

Re:only works if everyone play by the same rule

[Anonymous Coward]

It's neither. Many cars are safer than both Tesla models.

Re:only works if everyone play by the same rule

[I4ko]

India is the same.. Echo location at its best.

Re: only works if everyone play by the same rule

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh really? Which ones? Include links.

Re: only works if everyone play by the same rule

[Anonymous Coward]

There is such a thing as statistical power, and Tesla doesn't have it. Also he misrepresented air bag deployments as injuries or deaths. See Autonomous Vehicles Cannot Be Test-Driven Enough Miles to Demonstrate Their Safety; Alternative Testing Methods Needed for a thorough smackdown of all of Tesla's faulty claims. RAND is as authoritative as it gets for industrial research.

Re: only works if everyone play by the same rule

[Anonymous Coward]

Many cars, including almost all cars that are more than half the price of the Tesla Model S, but also many cheap and common cars. I am not going to list hem all, because Euro NCAP has already done that.

Tesla has marketed the fact that the Model S end result was five stars (like most modern cars) as something special that cannot be improved upon. In reality, it scored reasonably well in the tests, enough to earn five stars, but nothing spectacular.

Huh?!?

[fluffernutter]

I thought Autopilot didn't mean self-driving?!?

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

It doesn't. But for some reason it was being translated to the Chinese equivalent of "self-driving". They've since corrected the error in translation to better convey the meaning behind the English "autopilot".

Re:Huh?!?

[penguinoid]

Autopilot in an airplane means that the plane can pilot itself while you go take a piss. Autopilot in a Tesla means that you will take a piss while the car drives itself.

Re:Huh?!?

[fluffernutter]

So what is the new english translation? Drives while you stay fully alert and attentive by going through the motions of driving?

Re:Huh?!?

[Mr D from 63]

I thought Autopilot didn't mean self-driving?!?

The secret is out, and the Chinese are on to us. It clearly means, automatic piloting. Which refers to the algorithm Netflix uses generates new series. Very confusing I know. I can't even guess what term will we use when we have flying cars.

Re:Huh?!?

[AikonMGB]

That isn't what autopilot in an airplane means at all. Stop spreading misinformation.

Re:Huh?!?

[fluffernutter]

The interesting thing is, obviously the people who worked at Tesla China were comfortable calling it self-driving; so while Slashdotters were scoffing at people for thinking Autopilot was self driving, apparently this was the impression that Tesla China was under as well.

Re:Huh?!?

[michelcolman]

That's exactly why they changed the translation. Apparently, the Chinese translation for autopilot also literally means "self driving", and they felt that was pushing their legal luck a little bit too much.

The term "autopilot" itself is pretty well-defined in aviation and boating, to mean an often very stupid automatic steering device that needs constant monitoring, especially during critical phases like landing. An automatic airplane landing is actually more work and stress than a manual one and requires specific training to deal with all the possible failures.

I know lots of people get confused about the term, but that doesn't mean it's wrong. Hey, "automobile" means "moves by itself" so should I sue every automobile manufacturer because their cars need people to set them in motion?

The function of the Tesla autopilot is exactly like that of autopilots in boats and airplanes, they couldn't have chosen a more accurate term.

Re:Huh?!?

[Mr D from 63]

What does autopilot on a drone mean?

Re:Huh?!?

[jellomizer]

It doesn't but a lot of people don't realize that.
A commercial airplane has autopilot however they need at least 1 pilot in the cockpit at all times. Autopilot doesn't replace the need of a pilot or a driver for the case of Tesla, but a tool that can deal with a lot of the monotony in driving.

Re:Huh?!?

[fnj]

Get the hell over it. Teslas are NOT goddam self-driving, full stop, end of story. If they advertised self-driving, that was a massive boo-boo in the translation. Autopilot, that's something else altogether; sure, they have an autopilot.

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

You love to copy and paste this in every Tesla article but let me tell you something: You can't ignore the common meaning of a word and switch to a definition you can only find in some boat or airplane manual. The average person thinks autopilot is something more than a cruise control that attempts to keep you from changing lanes or running into things - but if you do run into something or change lanes - its not the purpose of the "Autopilot". That basically means Autopilot is only, by Tesla's own definitions, able to perform cruise control.

If that is all Autopilot is rated to do then it should not be called something that implies it does more.

Re:Huh?!?

[clonehappy]

They've since corrected the error in translation to better convey the meaning behind the English "autopilot".

You're referring to the meaning that, to the 95% of the English-speaking population who have never flown an airplane or have any background or knowledge of aviation, means "self-flying", no?

Re:Huh?!?

[Mr D from 63]

The function of the Tesla autopilot is exactly like that of autopilots in boats and airplanes, they couldn't have chosen a more accurate term.

Why do folks keep saying this when in airplanes autopilot specifically allows the pilot to take his hands off the controls for extended periods of time, and allow in increases and focus on instrumentation? Neither of those do you want in a car. Tesla expressly says you should NOT take your hands of the controls. There are very clear differences.

Anyhow, I laugh over the argument effort. For Tesla, Autopilot means whatever Tesla markets it as, expressly or preferentially.That includes both the fine print and they hype.

Re:Huh?!?

[Mr D from 63]

^inferentially, not preferentially.... damn autocorrectpilot

Re:Huh?!?

[clonehappy]

I'd say most everyone doesn't realize that. If anything, the vast majority of people's only experience with autopilot is in an airplane they've seen in a Hollywood movie flying itself while the pilot goes to the john or uses a stewardess. I don't know why Musk continues to call his system autopilot when it clearly means "adaptive cruise control with lane detection system". Even Cadillac was smart enough to call it "Super Cruise".

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure. However when the autopilot in a plane or boat fails you generally have dozens of seconds before you're in danger of hitting anything (excepting situations such as the final phases of things like automatic landing, in which case the pilots are hyper aware and ready to take instant control).

When autopilot features on cars fail, you may have a second (or less) to react. And this can happen at almost any time during the activation of the feature. Which means you need to maintain the same kind of hyper awareness of managing an automatic plane landing at all times, just in case the autopilot disengages and you have to take over in an instant to avoid running into a parked car. Most humans (who aren't on something like Ritalin) cannot maintain that kind of passive monitoring of a system for that amount of time - either they get distracted/bored if they have too much faith in the system, or they get completely stressed out that the technology could fail at any time and kill them (and constant fear of surprise death eventually leads to PTSD).

Re:Huh?!?

[michelcolman]

The "common meaning" of the word is exactly what I described. Maybe Tesla should educate people more about what the word means (and not make hands-free demos during test drives and in youTube videos), but "most people don't understand the word, therefore you are wrong when you use the word in its correct meaning" is hardly a valid argument. The word means what it means.

Re:Huh?!?

[michelcolman]

During an automatic landing, we do have our hands on the controls. Cruise flight, with lots of empty air around us, is obviously a lot less critical.

Re:Huh?!?

[michelcolman]

See, autocorrect needs monitoring too. Go sue whoever made your autocorrect software.

Re:Huh?!?

[Mr D from 63]

Cars don't land, so that isn't relevant, except maybe parking. But at no time in a car, even on an open empty highway, are you allowed to take your hands off with Tesla Autopilot. At least according to Tesla.

Re:Huh?!?

[Mr D from 63]

but a tool that can deal with a lot of the monotony in driving.

Hold on thar pardner! No no no. Autopilot does not help you deal with the monotony. If anything, it adds to it as it takes over some of the driving task. Maybe you just chose the wrong words to imply making it safer for those whose attention drifts during monotonous driving.

Re:Huh?!?

[Mr D from 63]

Maybe the fact that it gets debated here on every related submission should be clue enough as to public interpretation.

Re:Huh?!?

[WegianWarrior]

Just because so many are wrong don't change the meaning of the word. Still, Tesla could have used a more descriptive term for their system - I suspect they went with "Autopilot" since it sounds snappier and more sexy than "adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning with semi-autonomous drive and parking capabilities".

Re: Huh?!?

[kellymcdonald78]

Ahh, so Cadillac's can exceed the speed of sound without the use of afterburners

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

As others have pointed out, this is completely untrue. I'm a pilot. I have an auto-pilot on my aircraft. It can easily kill me if I allow it. Auto-pilot means to offload tasks from the driver. It still requires oversight at every phase. This is why pilots are still part of cockpits.

Re:Huh?!?

[vux984]

A commercial plane autopilot is a fundamentally different animal.

In a plane someone has to be in the cockpit. But the majority of the flight is a straight trajectory through largely completely empty space, with nothing at all 10,000 feet in any direction. They can stand up and stretch in the cockpit. A 3-4 second response time is fine. The pilot can read flight manuals, do paperwork, study a map, play cards, stand up and stretch (in the cockpit)... etc. He also has a copilot to hand-off too so he can even take a nap.

In a car, at least with Tesla's autopilot, its completely different. There are potentially other cars within a dozen feet to either side, and few dozens feet ahead or behind. There can be trees and poles, dividers, whizzing by to the sides. And the driver is expected to be there continually on much higher alert, "hands on the wheel".

Yes, a pilot needs to be 'ready' at all times, but not nearly as 'ready' as a Tesla driver. A tesla driver needs to be fully engaged, hands on the wheel... almost but not quite driving the entire trip. A pilot just needs to be there, alert, but he can doing paperwork, following the flight along in an atlas, and all kinds of stuff that a Tesla driver can't do. He also has a copilot and can take breaks.

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

"autopilot" in a fully autonomous setting is not applicable to tradition use. Furthermore, there is not set definition. In many cases, "autopilot", simple refers to the computer performing a number of PID calculations so as to maintain flight.

Re:Huh?!?

[Drethon]

Cars don't land, so that isn't relevant, except maybe parking. But at no time in a car, even on an open empty highway, are you allowed to take your hands off with Tesla Autopilot. At least according to Tesla.

How is it different? Only when landing is an aircraft ever supposed to be within miles of something it might run into. Sounds like landing is closer to the environment cars operate in, rather than flying.

Re:Huh?!?

[Mr D from 63]

So, you want to select how it applies to cars? Maybe that tells us something about the nature of the pointless attempt to define autopilot for cars in terms of planes. After all, autopilot was never defined for cars. To say it means exactly the same thing....then follow with a "but only the landing part"....makes it silly. OTOH, autopilot for missiles typically mean autonomous.

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

That is entirely the point. Its not what the autopilot does as much as what the consequences and effects of the autopilot's performance means. Autopilot in a plane and boat means that you can set it and let it do its thing with little to no monitoring and you won't crash and die 99.999% of the time. The average person does not know the precise mechanisms that cause airplane autopilot to work - they know the EFFECTS or what the result is. That result is not the same result as in a Tesla.

In a Tesla it means you will likely not immediately hit something and die but the real question becomes how many minutes can you let it run before you need to intervene.

If you truly believe the airplane version of autopilot then normal any car's cruise control is an "autopilot" because it maintains speed and heading.

Re:Huh?!?

[thegarbz]

I thought Autopilot didn't mean self-driving?!?

You've never been to China have you? You'd be amazed what something means once someone translates it into Chinese and then translates it back again.

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

An autopilot is a system used to control the trajectory of a vehicle without constant 'hands-on' control by a human operator being required. Autopilots do not replace a human operator, but assist them in controlling the vehicle, allowing them to focus on broader aspects of operation, such as monitoring the trajectory, weather and systems.

(Source - and that definition references an FAA publication on Automated Flight Controls.)

You're correct - Teslas are NOT goddam self-driving, full stop, end of story. But if that's the case, why does Tesla insist on using a term which, properly defined, indicates that the system will "control the trajectory of a vehicle without constant hands-on control by a human operator being required"?

Autopilot, that's something else altogether; sure, they have an autopilot.

So they have a system that controls the trajectory of your vehicle without constant hands-on control by a human operator being required. As long as the operator doesn't take his hands off the controls and doesn't stop paying attention. But it's totally an autopilot, aside from the fact that it doesn't meet any of the criteria for being an autopilot.

Glad we've cleared that up.

Re:Huh?!?

[swb]

I don't know about planes, but marine autopilot seems much more sophisticated than Tesla's at high levels of integration.

Dumb systems will simply hold heading to a specific compass bearing. Sightly smarter ones will hold heading to a bearing and maintain a desired speed (and in dumb systems usually only throttle position).

Smarter systems integrated with a chartplotter will pilot an entire trip based on waypoints, maintaining course and speed the entire way with no input. Even smarter systems integrate radar for avoiding static and moving objects and can even incorporate sonar devices to avoid shallow areas in areas where water levels may vary or where charts are poor.

Now, you can't really go take a nap in a busy area, bad weather or while docking, but a modern marine autopilot can cover long distances and complex courses with near zero input. I don't think you can input waypoints into a Tesla and sit back for 8 hours while it does all the work.

Re:Huh?!?

[Jim Hall]

Just because so many are wrong don't change the meaning of the word.

I disagree. Definitions of words change all the time because a large number of people agree to a new meaning. One example is Decimate. Originally, this meant to kill 1/10th of a population - from the ancient Roman use of Decimation as a means of punishment of a group at once, such as punishment for desertion. Over time, people at large associated "decimate" with a disaster affecting large groups, and later the assumed meaning shifted to "destroy almost all of something."

And I watched that definition change over my lifetime. When I was in middle school, we learned "decimate" meant "one in ten" (hence "deci").

So over the span of thirty or forty years, "decimate" has changed from 10% to something like 90%.

The current definition:

Decimate
verb (used with object), decimated, decimating.

1. to destroy a great number or proportion of:
The population was decimated by a plague.

2. to select by lot and kill every tenth person of.

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, they do have a system that controls the trajectory of your vehicle without constant hands-on control by a human operator being required. Even if the operator takes his hands off the controls and stops paying attention.

And unlike an aircraft's autopilot system, the Tesla will usually avoid obstacles as well.

Re:Huh?!?

[I4ko]

I'm not sure about that. Americans redefine English in ways they see fit, but are not what English means. In every Slavic language autopilot means automatic&autonomous pilot, which means self-driving.
If it is not self-driving (automatic) but it provides some assistance, it is assisted driving/piloting, but not automatic piloting (autopilot).

You can also check what autopilot means even in English - a device for automatically steering ships, aircraft, and spacecraft.

Stop saying autopilot isn't autopilot, when you have arbitrary substituted the meaning of autopilot with driver assist.

Re:Huh?!?

[I4ko]

You are confusing autopilot with fly-by-wire control.
With autopilot you enter the entire flight plan, and you have the computer land the plan in ILS. Don't assume lack of stuurwiel, wheel or control column is autopilot. Airbus doesn't have a control column, yet the pilot can fly manually by turning knobs.

With autopilot you just program it, and let it run the program, and you don't touch it, unless your pants are going to suddenly go brown.

Re:Huh?!?

[SvnLyrBrto]

Tesla's autopilot exceeds the capabilities of many, perhaps even most, autopilots in use in aviation. The fact that it's not completely hands-off and capable of engaging in witty banter in the voice of William Daniels does not change that fact.

And Hollywood movies? Really? The Hollywood movie I saw the other night claimed that flying DeLoreans and hoverboards are available right now and that the Cubs won the World Series last year. Just because I saw it on TV doesn't make it so.

Re:Huh?!?

[lgw]

Not all aircraft autopilots are that fancy, many aren't that safe for landing, and almost all will cheerfully fly into an obstacle. The technical sense seems correct for Tesla - it's somewhere in the range of things that get called "autopilot". Terrible choice for a marketing term, of course.

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Most people understand the word. Tesla and their apologists pretend that because they don't agree with their understanding, despite knowing it exists, it is somehow invalid. Welcome to language, bitch.

Claiming I called you a female dog would be equivalent to the pretense you have about autopilot.

Re:Huh?!?

[marquisdepolis]

Not sure the comparison holds. For one thing, you're not driving the boat in a lane surrounded by other boats, like in a motorway. The marine autopilot is child's play by comparison.

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

faggot

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

The English translation hasn't changed. It's "autopilot".

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

It is a valid argument because if most people think the meaning of a word is X then to some degree, society has defined the word as X, not some other Y. Since words are defined by society and are NOT an intrinsic property of the universe, what MOST people believe the meaning of a word is, at a given time. is very relevant - especially when it relates to advertising. Several words and phrases have literally had their meaning changed due to society as a whole "misusing" or adopting other meanings for the word. Gay is an easy one that comes to mind.

I have no doubt you can go find some source that explains your view of "autopilot". But I can point to example uses of the word in dictionaries, thesauruses, pop culture references, figures of speech, etc. Though you might cite Wikipedia for your side - can site it for my side. Clearly the Wikipedia page describes autopilot systems that can nearly fully fly a plane as well as less advanced systems. In the end layman/common uses all point toward a different and MORE COMMONLY ACCEPTED definition that essentially means, if active, little to no intervention or attention is required. Since Telsa owners cannot be assumed or expected to be trained Pilots who fully understand all the vary nuances of the word "autopilot", one (the law) should assume the average owner uses the most commonly accepted definition.

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, they do have a system that controls the trajectory of your vehicle without constant hands-on control by a human operator being required.

Really? What system is that?

Tesla's OWN MARKETING MATERIALS say that you should not take your hands off the controls while using Autopilot. Therefore... not an Autopilot, as the word is specifically defined to mean in aviation and marine usage, and not an Autopilot, in the sense of "self-driving" that many people not familiar with the precise definition used in aviation and marine usage.

So, in NO WAY is it an "autopilot," but Tesla insists on calling it "Autopilot." This is a problem, and the sooner you stop sucking Elon Musk's cock, the sooner they'll admit that it's a shitty marketing term that is misleading.

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Any car's cruise control is not an "autopilot" because it doesn't maintain any specific heading unless your wheels are perfectly aligned. Also, you don't quite understand what an airplane's autopilot is actually capable of.

An airplanes autopilot auto-steers to go from waypoint to waypoint, which is analogous to following the curve of the road. A regular cruise control cannot do this. But Tesla's autopilot can.
 
Mid-air collisions, which is analogous to a car colliding with another car on the highway is not avoided by an airplane's autopilot system but is at least sometimes avoided by Tesla's autopilot. Running into the side of a mountain or a tall building in an airplane is analogous to a car running into a stationary obstacle on a highway, something that airplanes aren't capable of at all yet Teslas are in certain circumstances.
 
I'd make the assertion that Tesla's autopilot is actually more advanced than a typical airplane's autopilot. The only reasons why you see far fewer accidents involving an airplane's autopilot is 1) more pilot training on what exactly the autopilot can and cannot do and 2) far fewer dangers to avoid in the sky.

Re:Huh?!?

[mrclevesque]

Then tell Tesla to tell people they must keep their hands on the wheel at all times and keep their attention on the road same as if they didn't have autopilot.

Re:Huh?!?

[EEPROMS]

I always thought Tesla was asking for a lawsuit by using the term "autopilot", persoanlly i think they should have called it "driver assist".

Re:Huh?!?

[mea_culpa]

Autopilot is actually an accurate name for it.

Autopilot was primarily invented for aircraft and even today, autopilot will still happily fly an aircraft into terrain without human interaction if you let it. There have been numerous CFIT fatal crashes of aircraft with over 9000 deaths. Each of these incidences brought more knowledge of how to improve technology to help prevent future occurrences (I expect the same to happen with autonomous vehicle technology so longs as government allows it to exist). Autopilot was never intended to replace the human pilot or alleviate the responsibility of the human pilot to maintain constant situational awareness. Likewise, autopilot in the Tesla was never intended to alleviate the driver of the responsibility to maintain continuous situational awareness. The driver actually has to agree to this when using it.

I think Hollywood may have warped people's perception of what autopilot actually is and its limitations.

Re:Huh?!?

[mea_culpa]

That's interesting. I never looked up that word before but I always assumed in meant to cause a disaster on such a scale that the decimal place is moved a certain number of places. Like only 100 surviving out of 10,000, or 50,000 of 5,000,000,000.

Re: Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

..in "translation" ?

you think tesla doesn't have chinese speaking employees?

they advertised it as self driving. EOS.

also musk has talked abouy autopilot meaning self driving, being that fully in some future version.

musk fucked up big time with wanting to be the first with autopilot. who the fuck releases that as beta? for a car? musk. thats who.

Re:Huh?!?

[michelcolman]

Airbus does have sidesticks that work just like a control column. And we can't program the autopilot to do an entire flight including landing. Autoland requires quite a bit of manual actions (engaging approach mode when close to the airport, selecting flaps and landing gear,...) and we are trained to always be ready to take over when the system malfunctions.

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ask the average person this question:
Would an airplane's autopilot prevent that airplane from flying into another airplane?
 
The average person would say, well, no, of course not.
 
Would an airplane's autopilot prevent that airplane from flying into a building?
 
The answer again would be, of course not.
 
So, how is it that you think that the average person's definition of autopilot means that a car can automatically avoid running into other cars or obstacles on the road? The very fact that a Tesla's autopilot can do these things in at least certain circumstances shows that it's actually more advanced than an airplane's autopilot.

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Way to change the argument.

It doesn't matter if their materials say that you shouldn't take your hands off the controls. There is still a system in place that controls the trajectory of the vehicle. If the road turns, the car turns regardless of whether or not someone's hands are on the wheel.

Sure, autopilot can be faulty. But you're just claiming some stupid crap that isn't true.

Re:Huh?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

That 2, coupled with people's poor understanding of the word, coupled with Tesla crediting Autopilot with the success of always-on safety systems (i.e., not the shit that is actually problematic in Autopilot or makes it special) to detract from Autosteer being a half-baked POS is why people should stop defending them ASAP.

Re:Huh?!?

[aix tom]

One common definition that would apply to both cars and planes would probably be "the vehicle has to have at least X seconds unobstructed travel path before it, so that it is save to take the hands of the controls" Then that would also somewhat fit missiles and rockets, although in their case the human intervention is mostly confined to an "abort and self destruct" button.

That way a highway scenario could one day become "hands of wheels" territory, for example when there are autonomous vehicle only lanes.

Just two links ???

[martiniturbide]

..Slashdotters are getting lazy to post more links on the articles. I would put a link over "fatal accident in Florida".

Re:Just two links ???

[michelcolman]

What about the fatal crash in Southern California last monday morning?

This is so silly

[Anonymous Coward]

It's silly how much flak Tesla gets over a few little crashes and what... 1 fatality so far?

It's silly how people call for the auto-pilot feature to be removed because it's "SO DANGEROUS"

It's silly how no one bats an eye at the thousands upon thousands of crashes and deaths caused by human drivers.

It's silly how the safer option is being threatened while the real danger persists.

Re: This is so silly

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't you get there memo? Despite being a website full of people in the software industry, Slashdot groupthink had decreed that Tesla shouldn't be allowed to sell autopilot as a feature until it's capable of not only driving you around while you sleep, it also needs to do the grocery shopping, babysitting, and bring about world peace all without any human intervention.

Re:This is so silly

[NotInHere]

Yeah, I think the number of deaths caused by driver stupidity is far larger than those two deaths that were caused by the autopilot feature.

Re:This is so silly

[jellomizer]

People are more scared to fly than to drive, or walk across the street.

The general fear is from a loss of control. The more control a person has the less they are afraid, because they can make decisions about their life. While if you intrust it into technology or someone else. The risk is that other person just will not care as much... Even though the numbers show that they are safer.

The same with many people with cloud computing. You hear about a major outage or problem once a year, however if they were administering their own local systems there would be problems happening a lot more often. However the scale of the problem will not make the news.

Re: This is so silly

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed, it should do ALL of those things. It's about time Musk and Tesla stepped up and did something constructive.

Re:This is so silly

[michelcolman]

Here's one.

Re:This is so silly

[Anonymous Coward]

Bullshit. We'll likely be dealing with the issues you raise when we have self driving cars but this is pretend lack of control at best. The problem is that the feature is useless if used as intended and advertised as useful. Effectively Telsa is trying to convince you it's two incompatible things at once.

FBI SURVEY --- didn't they post one here about it

[Anonymous Coward]

Lazy generation, unwise contraptions.

Taxis are fine. You don't need a robot to wipe your ass do you?

in other news

[zlives]

VW to change the definition of emissions compliant on their website, lawsuit averted.

Re:in other news

[Anonymous Coward]

That's essentially what all of VW's competitors did. They said: "we only cheat emissions tests to protect the engine" and then it was suddenly legal because of a loophole.

You dumb fuck

[Ryanrule]

Learn to actually translate Chinese you asshole.