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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."
That isn't what autopilot in an airplane means at all. Stop spreading misinformation.
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?
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.
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.
VW to change the definition of emissions compliant on their website, lawsuit averted.
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.