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Comment by jads | Hacker News Reader

>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

Autopilot doesn't mean fully autonomous. It was never that originally in aviation either, basicLly just controlling altitude and speed. I'd say Tesla's use of "autopilot" is pretty spot on.

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The difference is that "keep height, speed and direction" is a pretty safe way to operate an airplane at altitude: there are no sudden obstacles, and there is a lot of infrastructure to make sure traffic stays nicely separated. A human reaction time of a few seconds is fine.

It's not for a ground vehicle in normal environments.

If I'm not wrong, autopilot can follow set route also and if the airport supports it, it can land autonomously too. Tesla's use of the term is highly misleading.

No, but granted we're getting into semantics. Feature 1 you describe is provided by the Flight Management System[0], and feature 2 is provided through Autoland[1]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_management_system [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoland

Agreed, though Tesla's autopilot feature explicitly makes it clear it's not self driving. It's still an assistance, albeit a very good one, somewhat true to the definition that an autopilot system "doesn't replace the human operator".

I do think Tesla have their work cut out in distinguishing what autopilot actually is vs the general Persephone that autopilot means "it controls itself, autonomously".

I agree there's a lot of (potentially dangerous) ambiguity in what the name "autopilot" means and implies.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the name "autopilot" for 2 reasons.

Firstly, the name is sexy and filled with hype. Even for a fully autonomous "driver go to sleep" level 4 driving system, "autopilot" would be a great sounding name (much better than "full autonomy" or anything more explicit in my opinion).

Secondly, the name deviates from industry semi-standard naming such as "cruise control" or "lane assist". I don't believe Tesla's automated features are more advanced than the rest of the industry[0], but the name sounds more advanced. Maybe this is good marketing, maybe this is dangerous and deceitful, maybe both.

[0] I'm not an expert on the state of self-driving systems. If anyone here who is reads this and has some evidence that Tesla's autopilot features are more advanced that what's offered by Audi (for example), I'd love to hear why / see some sources.

Get a focus group of 100 average Joe consumers.

Ask them whet they think and autopilot feature is.

The vast majority of them will say. "Err... a car that drives itself"

Of course I'm speculating. But if someone did run such a focus group and the majority didn't give a definition which boiled down to "a car that drives itself" then i'll eat my hat.

The pedantic "true meaning" of a term doesn't matter. Particularly when naming a feature that not only has the capacity to kill, but has now actually done so.

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