this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2024
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Somewhat ironically, autopilot for airplanes is more less attitude/speed holding for most history. More modern systems can now autoland or follow a preprogrammed route (the flight plan plugged into the FMS), but even then changes like TCAS advisories are usually left up to the pilots to handle. Autopilots are also expected to give control to the pilots in any kind of unexpected situation.
So in a way tesla's naming here isn't so off, it's just the generic understanding of the term "autopilot" that is off somewhat. That said, their system is also not doing much more than most other level 2 ADAS systems offer.
On the other hand, Elon loves going off about Full Self Driving mode a lot, and that's absolutely bullshit.
Comercial pilots also have a lot of training, huge list of regulations and procedures for every contingency, amd a copilot to double check your work.
Tesla has dumb fuck drivers that are actively trying to find ways to kill themselves. And an Orange wedged in the steering wheel is the copilot. To trick sensors.
Maybe the latter should not be trusted with the nuance that is the "autopilot" branding.
Because 2007+ have seen an influx of new computer users, mostly using mobile devices, many of them thinking that this is how computer use looks now and that this is the future.
Now the iPhone generation (including adults and seniors who haven't used anything smarter) thinks that you can replace any expert UI with an Angry Birds like arcade on a touchscreen.
If real autopilot to be trusted were possible for airplanes now, we'd see fully automated drone swarms in all warzones and likely automated jets (not having the constraint of G-forces survivable by a human, and not requiring life support systems at all), but in real life it's still human-controlled FPV drones and human-piloted jets.
Though I think drone swarms are coming. It's, of course, important to have control over where the force is applied, but a bomb that destroys a town when you need to destroy a house is often preferable to no bomb at all.
The point was that people want magic now and believe crooks who promise them magic now. Education is the way to counter this.
I think the counter to that is that aircraft manufacturers know that the people flying their aircraft are not idiots and actually know what the autopilot button does. Meanwhile Tesla knows that the people driving their cars are idiots and don't know what the autopilot does.
In the US they let kids drive for god's sake. Sure they've passed a test but what does that mean in the real world?