It’s an irresponsible brand name – Autopilot. It’s a name that makes the average consumer believe Tesla’s Autopilot system is Level 5, fully autonomous-capable. It’s not – at least not yet. Zachary Mider tackles many of the issues surrounding Autopilot this week in an excellent article written for Business Week (Tesla’s Autopilot Could Save the Lives of Millions, But It Will Kill Some People First). There have been a few high profile traffic deaths involving Autopilot over the past few years. But the technology is probably also saving lives as well. This is the conundrum. According to Mider, “driving is one of the most dangerous things most adults do.” 40,000 Americans and 1.4 million people globally were killed behind the wheel last year. The fully-autonomous self-driving car will definitely be safer than most human drivers. In fact, Autopilot today might be safer than most human drivers. But even Tesla requires drivers using Autopilot to remain aware and even keep their hands on the steering wheel. Yet, there are ways for consumers to cheat the Autopilot system. It seems that Tesla is more interested in aggressively deploying Autopilot and accessing the data to train “the machine” than it is in conservatively rolling out the system in the name of consumer safety.
The Controversy of Tesla’s Autopilot
