Tesla Employees Voiced Concern Of Pushing Autopliot On To Public

Even before Tesla reported the first known death of a driver using its autopilot feature, some employees worried the car company wasn't taking every possible precaution.

Those building autopilot were acutely aware that any shortcoming or unforeseen flaw could lead to injury or death -- whether it be blind spots with the car's sensors or drivers misusing the technology.

But Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk believes that autopilot has the potential to save lives by reducing human error -- and has pushed hard to get the feature to market.

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MDarringer - 7/29/2016 10:42:41 AM

+3 Boost

"The team's motto is 'not to let the perfect be the enemy of the better,' according to a source close to Tesla. For Musk specifically, the source says his driving force is 'don't let concerns slow progress.'"

Autopilot isn't perfect but it also isn't better because it deludes owners into thinking the car is invincible, which coupled with how game-changing Tesla owners--incorrectly--think their cars are just means deaths were bound to happen.

The problem with Musk's motto is that his idea of progress is claiming the technology is one step beyond its actual capability.

Technology has a tremendous potential to make driving safer, but the driver should have his hands on the wheel.

Instead of calling the technology "Autopilot" and implying safe, hands-free operation, they should have named it "Guardian" and marketed it as technology assisted hands-on operation.

w222 - 7/29/2016 4:48:46 PM

+3 Boost

Like the above poster said, Tesla is stupid for naming it autopilot.
And why gamble with customer's safety, that's just careless.
I'm all for innovation but when something is not ready, it should not be deployed.
Consumers are not beta testers.

Sciros - 7/29/2016 11:01:17 PM

+2 Boost

Yea pretty much the only worse name would have been "chauffeur"