# Full Self Driving and Autopilot names



## M3OC Rules (Nov 18, 2016)

There has been lots of discussion over the years on the name of Autopilot. Now there is a considerable backlash against the Full Self Driving name in addition. Consumer Reports has been very vocal on this. Waymo in particular has been attacking Tesla any chance they get on their names. Waymo said they would quit using Self Driving terminology because of Tesla. This prompted many articles negative to Tesla's naming filled with comments that were anti-Tesla. There were many companies in the CES discussions that discussed how dangerous using the wrong names is without naming Tesla but clearly talking about Tesla. No matter what the name is you will not be able to know how well it works or when from the name but even Tesla has not been consistent in its use. So my questions are:

Is there any real evidence these names are causing a problem? This could be increased accidents or customers misled on what they are buying.
Why is Waymo doing this? Is it for public service, do they fear these names will damage the industry, do they see people mistaking Tesla FSD with Waymo, or are they threatened by Tesla and saw an opportunity to hurt them? Would Waymo be ok with the terminology if they thought Tesla would achieve Level 5 next month?
Would changing the names make it safer? 
Is it that big of a deal from a marketing perspective?


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

I am a firm believer that Tesla has screwed themselves over with the names. 

Full Self Driving as a name implies one and only one thing... the car drives itself. In reality they have positioned Full Self Driving as a suite of features that are improving yet incomplete. 

Autopilot also lends itself to suggest it does more than it actually does. 

I say this realize that’s all about marketing and sales and the ordering page clearly lists what is included with each. 

In a perfect world Tesla would have more levels and change the name. I think that ship has sailed because of how many cars they have sold with misleading names already.


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

Since autopilot isn't, and full self driving isn't, of course they should rename them. But will they? I think not.


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## DocScott (Mar 6, 2019)

I'm not sure about "should change the name of" but I think Autopilot is an accurate name and Full Self Driving is not.

Autopilot for Tesla does pretty much what autopilots for planes do. If people think planes with autopilot can safely fly themselves without monitoring by the flight crew, they're wrong. If they _also_ think that Teslas can drive themselves without monitoring because they have a system named autopilot, then they're still wrong. But I don't think that's Tesla's fault--those people were wrong before Tesla even named the system!

Full Self Driving, on the other hand, is doubly misleading. Even "self driving" had a meaning before Tesla started using it, and it tended to be used for a car with L4 or higher autonomy; i.e., a car that could drive itself safely without monitoring. And then Tesla went and stuck "full" in front of it, as if to say "this time we _really_ mean it." But so far, they don't. It's a very advanced L2 system, but it's still L2.

Maybe some day it will graduate to L4, but that's a ways off.

In my opinion, it would have been fine to stick with the Autopilot nomenclature: Autopilot, and then Enhanced Autopilot, and then Advanced Autopilot (today's FSD Beta would be Advanced Autopilot in that system).


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

DocScott said:


> Autopilot for Tesla does pretty much what autopilots for planes do.


Mostly. What makes autopilot for cars more dangerous isn't that there are more things to run into on the ground - it's that it doesn't complain loudly about everything. If you tried using aircraft autopilot on the ground, it would constantly warn you loudly about proximity alerts whenever a car goes by, or you pass a sign; It would repeatedly cry about speed warnings; and if it can't resolve a situation, it would just shut off abruptly and scream at you with a siren.

The reason why people get complacent with Tesla autopilot is because it's so silent and doesn't complain much. A lot of people forget that on many highways in the U.S., you can pretty much just set the steering wheel straight and accelerate with no autopilot, and not hit anything for dozens of miles. So the fact that they take a nap or watch a movie while AP is running isn't necessarily that AP is that good, it's sheer luck.


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## TrevP (Oct 20, 2015)

If you think about it, them choosing Autopilot before anyone else did was a good move on their part for marketing purposes. Look how many companies are tripping over themselves trying various "pilot" names for their systems, I bet they're pretty mad at not choosing it first!

Nonetheless the name is confusing to a lot of people that they really shouldn't be selling FSD right now. They should have kept it enhanced autopilot for now with the extra features as an add-on then ultimately offered FSD as another add-on.

Basically 3-tiers:


Basic AP included with all cars
EAP that adds all the extra non-FSD stuff
FSD
That way it's more fair, affordable and less confusing


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## M3OC Rules (Nov 18, 2016)

One ironic part of this is that if you did a study of the general public as to what Full Self Driving means I bet they would do quite well. The study is simple, show them the definitions of Level 0-5 and ask which one the name Full Self Driving best fits. One study found Autopilot to be 26% and I bet FSD would go up to more than double that if level 5 was the correct answer. The problem isn't that they don't understand the meaning, the problem (for Waymo at least) is they do. Tesla is selling level 5 while being at level 2. It's fine and accurate to point that out but is it a safety issue?


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

DocScott said:


> ...I think Autopilot is an accurate name and Full Self Driving is not.


For people who think that "Autopilot" implies too much, having a different option named "Full Self Driving" should help make it clear that Autopilot is not a "full self-driving" type of feature.


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## Kizzy (Jul 25, 2016)

M3OC Rules said:


> One ironic part of this is that if you did a study of the general public as to what Full Self Driving means I bet they would do quite well. The study is simple, show them the definitions of Level 0-5 and ask which one the name Full Self Driving best fits. One study found Autopilot to be 26% and I bet FSD would go up to more than double that if level 5 was the correct answer. The problem isn't that they don't understand the meaning, the problem (for Waymo at least) is they do. Tesla is selling level 5 while being at level 2. It's fine and accurate to point that out but is it a safety issue?


"I was using my phone on FSD and somebody was honking at me. WTF, they don't understand Teslas!"

Is my response to the naming issue being a safety issue. I'll defend Autopilot, but Tesla really should not be selling FSD as adding current features because people think the system works fine but most of us here know what happens when it doesn't work fine.


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## Madmolecule (Oct 8, 2018)

Names will be changed to protect the innocent/investment. Auotpilot will merge with the new phone and LifePilot, enhanced navigation and health monitoring. FSD will be changed to FSDN, the next generation. It might only be the next generation carrot.



















Elon Electrify Cuba!!!


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