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Comment by keyle | Hacker News Reader

> I do find it incredibly frustrating that the vast majority of Tesla conversations devolve into screaming matches between people who are rabidly pro or rabidly con, with both sides doing a pretty poor job of representing the truth

They sold it as autopilot. If you market something to do X and it does Y, you're bound to get people upset. Especially when it costs a chunk of the moon.

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I don't own a Tesla, but if I refused to buy any product with misleading marketing, I'm not sure I'd ever buy anything more sophisticated than a loaf of bread. Then again, I also don't use any driver assist features beyond parking sensors and don't expect to see any actual autopilot within my lifetime, so maybe I just haven't been as annoyed by Tesla's nonsense. Regardless, for a purchase most people regard as rather significant, it doesn't seem unreasonable to expect them to look at least marginally beyond a marketing misnomer.

The people being upset don't seem to be the same as the people owning the Tesla's though? Just gauging from HN discussions, the comments with the most moral outrage seem to be coming from a place of pure principle.

Edit: I scroll down and the first thing I see is a first person account of some one having sold theirs after disliking the overall experience, turning white. Welp, guess this is an opinion I should reflect on.

"There are several paragraphs of warnings and disclaimers both on the sales page and when you use the product that exactly explain the limitations, but I absolutely insist on fixating on this one particular word. Nothing else matters."

Planes have autopilot too. It doesn't mean the pilot turns it on then goes and takes a nap. They still have to be alert.

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