This crash is unfortunate and should be investigated. But autopilot naming is something I don't think is the problem.
Pilots do so all the time, because airplanes aren't flying in a congested 2D space. Airspace is mostly empty, with very large distances between planes and features, allowing for plenty of early warning.
And an airplane's "autopilot" has nothing to do with Tesla's Autopilot. Their purpose and working mechanisms are completely different.
The airplane analogy is pure bullshit.
It operates the controls but relies on the human operator for supervision. Pilots talk about “flying in the magenta” and exactly the same thing applies to Tesla Autopilot.
Believing that autopilot means something different is the bullshit attitude that has to change.
Warren Van Der Burch gave a classic presentation, Children of Magenta: https://youtu.be/pN41LvuSz10
There are two people flying the plane, with rigorous training and controlled work hours. Air safety, as they say, is no accident.
Meanwhile a Tesla "autopilot" is designed to drive in traffic with other vehicles.
Tesla Autopilot can keep pace with surrounding traffic and stay between marked lines but does not recognise stationary obstacles.
They are very much the same in that they automate the mundane parts of the operation of the vehicle. They are also the same in that they do not know how to handle conditions outside their operating envelope.
The A380 begs to differ...
http://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-releases/en/2009/08/eas...
Even pilots in IFR conditions are doing little more than maintaining a particular altitude and heading.
This means that a aircraft and vehicle autopilot have very different requirements. They are not, at all, doing the exact same things.
Then he failed, as they are completely unrelated.
> Pilots are never expected to get their eyes off the controls.
This is also false. They need to be alert, but they most certainly do not need to be as attentive as keeping their hands on the controls unlike with Tesla.
Unlike the sibling comment below alluded too, many commercial airplane autopilot systems are advanced enough to land the plane completely on auto as well as some even automatically respond to TCAS alerts to avoid nearby aircraft.