It is amazing how many of these article don't mention or barely mention that Teslas have multiple systems to try to prevent this that would have needed to be circumvented for this car to be using Autopilot without anyone at the wheel. They systems can obviously be improved as they are very easy to circumvent, but the mere need to circumvent them is part of the story as it shows the people in the car were aware they were misusing the system and that this was an dangerous idea.
> Adding to the confusion, Musk himself has appeared on “60 Minutes” and Bloomberg TV behind the wheel of a Tesla with his hands in the air. He’s been talking about Tesla‘s fully autonomous technology as if it’s imminent since 2016. That year, Tesla posted a video showing one of its cars running in autonomous mode through Palo Alto. “The person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons,” the video said.
Not just for Tesla, lots of companies make exaggerated claims about their products. Take a look at any advertising around SuperCruise and you’ll see the phrase “Hands Free Driving” about a million times. But fundamentally it has the same limits on self driving as Tesla. SuperCruise and AutoPilot both rely on the driver to intervene. If Musk gets crap for briefly taking his hands off the wheel on TV, how does GM get a free pass on marketing as “Hands Free”?
