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Germany's Federal Motor Authority Warns Tesla Over "Autopilot" Advertising

posted by cmn32480 on Monday October 17 2016, @03:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the keep-your-eyes-on-the-road dept.

takyon writes:

Germany's Federal Motor Authority recently sent letters to Tesla drivers reminding them that the "Autopilot" function is for driver assistance, not replacement. Now, Tesla is being warned against advertising the feature:

German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt has asked Tesla to stop advertising its electric vehicles as having an Autopilot function as this might suggest drivers' attention is not needed, his ministry said on Sunday.

A spokeswoman for the ministry, confirming a report in the daily Bild am Sonntag (BamS), said the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) had written to Tesla to make the request. "It can be confirmed that a letter to Tesla exists with the request to no longer use the misleading term Autopilot for the driver assistance system of the car," she said in a written response to a Reuters' query.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 17 2016, @08:41PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 17 2016, @08:41PM (#415387) Journal
    Ok, what is the false advertising? Are people unclear that Teslas are cars rather than planes or boats?

    And frankly, there are plenty of misnomers if we look even trivially at any part of society, like a computer. Where are the "keys" of a modern keyboard? All I see are buttons! The mouse isn't a real mouse. I want my money spent on the exercise wheel back. Male and female connectors, think of the children! Computer "memory" that forgets the moment you turn it off. A web browser? What twigs and shoots does it eat and where is its mouth? These strange technological terms frighten and confuse me!

    I think it is telling that people keep speaking of Tesla's supposed misleading or false advertising without actually coming up with an example of it.