If You Were In Charge Of Tesla Would You Change The Autopilot Name Or Keep It?

Tesla is really feeling the pressure on Autopilot from Germany. After the local media reported on excerpts of an alleged evaluation of the Tesla Autopilot by Germany’s Transport Ministry, which depicted a harsh critique of Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) calling it a “significant traffic hazard”, the ministry sent a letter to all Tesla owners in the country last week to give them instructions on how to use the system.

Now we learn that the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) is going one step further and it is now asking Tesla not to use the word ‘Autopilot’ when referring to its ADAS.

Read Article

vdiv - 10/18/2016 2:21:15 PM

+3 Boost

Keep the name and improve the features.

TomM - 10/18/2016 2:43:44 PM

+3 Boost

AS a common word - the word "autopilot" cannot be copyrighted by Tesla - so I would come up with a name that can be.

TheSteve - 10/18/2016 2:46:15 PM

-1 Boost

I'm a truthful, open guy, so I'd choose a name that accurately describes the product and does not set false expectations. I'd call it: Tesla DriveAssist.

But as you might have noticed, there are no guys like me in Marketing. Hype sells. Glitz sells. Sex sells. Marketing is all about raising sales. It's not about accuracy or openness. That's why it's called Autopilot when it's only a driver assist system.

mre30 - 10/18/2016 3:01:23 PM

-2 Boost

The big flaw with this whole "autopilot" argument is that the capabilities of the feature are essentially the same as offered on other luxury automobiles.

Based on reports, Musk/Tesla may have watered-down safety features to give the system the appearance of higher functionality, but the capabilities are the same.

IMO, Tesla is desperately trying to hang onto the "Autopilot" name to give the (dishonest?) marketing impression that the Tesla system is better than the others. Tesla is trying to claim a competitive advantage where none really exists.

You can dispute that assessment, but to my knowledge, no other automaker driving systems have resulted in multiple fatalities worldwide.

There are any number of names that can be substituted,

SanJoseDriver - 10/18/2016 7:36:08 PM

+3 Boost

As far as I know there is no other driver assist that can make full lane changes or allow you to autonomously call your car out of your garage with no one sitting in the car. It also outperforms the Mercedes system on the freeway and is the only system that can brake as soon as a car 2-3 cars ahead brakes.

In terms of fatalities, one person died that was using the system on a road where they should not have been using it--get over it.

MDarringer - 10/18/2016 7:35:35 PM

-2 Boost

I would change it to "Pilot Assist" and refund the price of the original purchase for the "ship" storm Tesla has created.

PUGPROUD - 10/18/2016 9:22:10 PM

+3 Boost

Keep it. Its ahead of its time but calls it what it will be. Like they use to say "The pioneers are the ones with arrows in their back." Tough it out and be rewarded for your foresight in the future.

SanJoseDriver - 10/19/2016 10:10:21 PM

+1 Boost

Looks like they are de-emphasizing "Autopilot" to some degree after the announcement today. However, since level 5 self-driving hardware is now being added to every new car I don't think regulators will have as hard of a time with the term.