The American Autopilot Alliance changed its name, and it may be Tesla that suffered?
Author | Chen Xiaoxue from Magnesia Planet
Recently, according to foreign media reports, the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets in the United States changed its name to the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA) because the term "self-driving" is easy to mislead others.
It is understood that AVIA was founded in 2016 and is composed of well-known car operators such as Ford, Waymo, Lyft, Uber and Volvo. The group was founded to be dissatisfied with the government's slow policies and decided to form a coalition to put pressure on the government. Let the administration understand the safety and social benefits of self-driving cars, so as to establish federal legislation in the United States that is more applicable to self-driving cars.
Although AVIA did not mention Tesla in its statement, many people in the industry believe that its name change may be related to Tesla. The reason is that AVINA does call on all stakeholders to make a clear distinction between "autonomous driving" and "driver-assisted driving systems" to increase consumer trust and understanding.
Previously, tesla's sales of "full autopilot" (FSD) software was actually an advanced driver-assisted driving system rather than its name of full autopilot. The system can control the car to perform many functions on the road, but still requires manual supervision.
AVIA believes that self-driving cars do not require a human operator, or even act as a backup driver; the people or packages on the vehicle are just passengers or goods.
In addition, AVIA said the new name is more in line with its members' "commitment to the precision and consistency with which industry, policymakers, journalists and the public talk about autonomous driving technology." In addition, AVIA said it supports the development of self-driving cars, hoping that they can complete all driving tasks.
The terms "autonomous driving" and "driver-assisted driving systems" have caused confusion among the public.
A few years ago, Waymo considered developing an advanced driver-assisted driving system similar to Tesla's FSD version of Autopilot, but eventually decided to abandon it. Because they found that "inaccurate use of the word 'autonomous driving'" would cause drivers to doze off or even fall asleep completely on the steering wheel.
At the same time, many critics argue that the five levels of automation defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers are too broad and potentially dangerous. Most experts agree that we need a better, more unified way to talk about self-driving cars.
U.S. regulators agree. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg commented in a recent interview criticizing any company that uses misleading language to describe driver-assisted driving features.
There are concerns that abandoning the term "autopilot" could mean serious consequences for Tesla. Now, though, almost all self-driving car operators in the U.S. seem to be abandoning the term "autonomous." These concerns now seem to have become a reality.
How Tesla will develop after that, time will tell us the answer.