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Should be. Obviously people get their notion of "autopilot" from science fiction, not from aviation.

Which is why I’ve always maintained it was a very misleading name and would lead to dangerous accidents. Which it seems to have on a number of occasions.

Of course people may have abused the system if it had a more sensible name anyway. But names competitors use like Automatic Cruise Control or SuperCruise seem much more descriptive of the system’s actual abilities.

It’s a car, not a plane. Why is the definition from aviation more relevant than the definition from science fiction (which also happens to be closer to the plain English understanding of the phrase)?

Because the technology is more similar to that of aviation than science fiction.

Because it's science fiction. As in, "this is not real." But well, I guess that if Moon landing was fake and wrestling is real, then science fiction is also real ;) (In other words, that the perception matters more than reality)

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