Thanks man, I appreciate the honest response, and that's exactly what I was imagining (skepticism towards self-driving tech, that I share to some extent).
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17232991
I get that Tesla's in a somewhat tough situation, having increased pressure to prove its manufacturing and sales are long-term viable. I don't agree that Tesla gets disproportionate negative media/attention (relative to the positive media that it gets), but I can see why Tesla would feel particularly harmed at this stage in development.
But since they've sold AutoPilot as a major defining feature, I think it's fair to raise it as an issue. Particularly on HN given the general interest here in AI/machine learning.