I am under the impression that Autopilot is less like a subscription and more of a one time “pay to unlock” feature. It should be tied to the individual car, and when a new owner signs in to that car (for access through an app, for example), the car should check “Is this car autopilot enabled? If yes, has this user ID…

It’s been implied, by the name “Autopilot,” that people don’t need to pay attention. It’s basically a case of “Our new Product means you no longer have to do Task A! ...but still do Task A.”

Better design wouldn’t require an instruction manual.

Was OnStar sold as a “one-time purchase,” or did they market that as a subscription?

Tesla needs to better explain when the user needs to interact via the steering wheel vs. when it’s acceptable to be hands-off.

Sorry, I might not have been clear: I don’t think the new user should be required to pay for Autopilot again. That should just be a one-time purchase for the life of the car, regardless of owner. But when a new owner takes delivery of the car and tries to use it, there must be some sort of owner-unique ID that Tesla…

The “complex system” is knowing what the lane-assist will handle, what the cruise control will handle, when the user needs to intervene, etc. Driving a regular car, without any sort of Autopilot system, is relatively straightforward because the user knows they must be in control at all times. Add in the Autopilot…

Presumably someone has to put their car in their name when buying a used model. Tesla could implement something like an Apple ID, and when a car’s ownership is transferred, the new user must go through training before the Autopilot system is activated again. Just a thought.

“Weeding out the dumbasses” is an incredibly disrespectful approach to people and design. People should be treated with dignity, not being called “too stupid” or “a dumbass” when they don’t understand a complex system. A better approach is to design something well enough that it easily imparts to the user what it can…

What do most people think “autopilot” means? Probably “autonomous.” That is the colloquial, lay-person understanding of the word, especially since “auto” us right there in it.

Maybe Tesla needs to do more research on human nature (the desire to take the lazy route), and design a system that takes it into account.

Calling people “idiots” for not understanding a system with a confusing name is not helpful. “Autopilot” oversells itself on the name, and users should not be blamed for taking it at face value. Tesla can and should redesign the system to require more human interaction, and change the name to be more accurate in…

Why blame something on “human stupidity” when you can blame it on bad human interface design? A good design will not say “some people are stupid and can’t use me,” a good design will take into account how people actually think and act, in the real world, and allow for that. Tesla can do plenty of things, including:

No, they should not disable those features, as long as those features are properly explained to the user.

I think that’s appropriate. Given the actual limitations of Tesla’s system, the driver should always be paying attention. However, given Tesla’s marketing of the system, drives could be somewhat forgiven right now for believing that the system is more powerful than it is, and not paying as much attention as they…

Expecting human nature to change is pointless. Given a system, which seems far more powerful than it is, and which has a name that implies it’s more powerful than it is, people will try to offload a much work as possible. Tesla need to be better about clarifying what is or is not possible, and requiring more human…

If the name doesn’t imply that it’s autonomous, people will be far less likely to expect it to be autonomous. Call it “Advanced Cruise Control with Active Lane-Keep Assist,” or something else that doesn’t oversell the capabilities.

Let’s expand that idea: If the system does not detect common obstacles one might expect on the road, it’s not ready to released publicly, especially not under an Autopilot name.

I’m with you on quantity, but some websites definitely have a problem with Quality too. TheVerge, in particular, likes to do a HUGE banner ad at the top of their page - on my 11" MacBook Air, it takes up 90% of the screen. I try to whitelist a lot of the sites I like, to support them, but that single ad is what pushed…

Tesla can do it for $66k, yes, but that’s because of a few things BMW might not be able to do: