Earlier this week, a German court ruled that Tesla misled customers regarding the abilities of its semi-autonomous driving system, the now notorious Autopilot. The Munich court then banned Tesla Germany from using certain messages in its adverts.
As it turns out, a leading car safety expert in the UK arrived at a similar conclusion, agreeing that Tesla’s Autopilot technology has been marketed in a “misleading” way, as reported by AutoExpress.
Matthew Avery of Thatcham Research, who is also an Euro NCAP board member, said that he and the organizations for which he works have long “warned of the pitfalls to the Autopilot system,” which “is not a self-driving system. It is there to provide driver assistance, not to become an invisible chauffeur.”
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While Tesla claims that all of their new models are already equipped with the necessary hardware needed in the future for full self-driving, the system currently utilizes an array of features that merely walk the line between Level 2 and Level 3 autonomy – such as adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance and automated emergency braking.
Sure, add them all together and Tesla’s tech might be more cohesively integrated than that of some of its rivals, but that doesn’t mean it’s fully self-reliant.
Furthermore, Thatcham Research says that certain UK Tesla owners recently received an email that read: “Our records indicate that you haven’t upgraded your Model S… to Full Self-Driving Capability. You can upgrade now at a reduced price of £2,200.” – if true, this is troubling on multiple levels.
Ultimately, Avery believes that when marketed appropriately, systems like Autopilot can be very effective and that they will “benefit road safety.”
