Tesla changes the name of the driving assistant “Full Self-Driving”

The Tesla CEO has been promising self-driving cars for years. But the big breakthrough never came. This is also reflected in the name of the driver assistance system.

Christopher Clausen/T Online

Tesla has changed the name of its FSD (Full Self-Driving) and now explicitly states in the name that it must be monitored at all times. The new name is “supervised full self-driving.” Because FSD in no way means that the car takes over the steering wheel at the push of a button and a person can comfortably sit in the driver's seat.

After years of criticism of the term “full self-driving,” Musk Group appears to acknowledge that the technology being touted is little more than an advanced driving assistant.

It all started ten years ago with the Autopilot driving assistance system. At that time, Tesla grouped its assistants such as adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assistant and other assistants under this fancy term – and immediately received accusations: after all, current options are not, like an airplane, able to operate fully without the need for a human . intervention to control; This is not even allowed.

However, many accidents and critical situations have occurred due to electric car owners relying on self-driving capabilities. Since then, Tesla has repeatedly emphasized that the driver should continue to take responsibility for their car at all times, even though the name of full self-driving might lead you to believe otherwise.

'Monitored self-driving' a legal scam?

Several lawsuits have been filed against Tesla in the USA and Europe due to false advertising promises. Not all of these decisions have been decided against Tesla, but it seems that the company is becoming more cautious: as the online automotive portal Electrek reported, “ Supervised full self-driving » We are talking about fully supervised autonomous driving.

But the new name could also have drawbacks: after all, a car capable of driving itself wouldn't need any supervision. So relevant media say that this can be used as a legal trick to provide more security in legal disputes.

When it comes to the term “robot taxi” to refer to self-driving taxis, the company under Elon Musk appears to have now adopted a somewhat less grandiose stance in order to keep customer and shareholder expectations in check.

Competition never sleeps

Other car manufacturers are now following suit with automated driving: Mercedes, for example, allows driving in Level 3 with its luxury S-Class and EQS models, and the new BMW 7 Series has also been approved for such tasks: the system allows drivers to drive on roads They use vehicles structurally separated by directional lanes at speeds of up to 60 km/h to direct their attention to secondary activities. However, they should be able to regain control at any time.

Different levels of vehicle autonomy

The vehicle's level of autonomy is divided into five different levels. Fully autonomous vehicles are Level 5 cars. They do not have a steering wheel or pedals. There is no driver in these automated vehicles.

For vehicles between level 0 and level 4, the driver must hold the steering wheel, either always (up to level 2) or sometimes (level 3 and 4) – if the various assistance systems are no longer able to intervene automatically for traffic or weather reasons.

So Level 4 vehicles still have a steering wheel and pedals. In Level 3 vehicles, the vehicle automatically accelerates, brakes, and steers in some areas. In other cases, the system asks the driver to take control within ten seconds.

(t online)