Tesla's Elon Musk sent mixed messages about Autopilot's capabilities

Tesla officiallytouts its partial self-driving Autopilot feature as a back-up tohuman drivers, but some of the car maker's comments and somehigh profile videos have led many drivers to think of it as areplacement.

The questions of whether drivers are being lulled into afalse sense of security by such technology, and who is legallyto blame for an accident, have come into focus after it was madepublic on Thursday that a driver using Autopilot died when hedrove under a truck in May.

An investigation of the crash has not yet established if thedriver was distracted, or if his hands were on the wheel.

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Tesla Motors Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk toldreporters last year that its partial self-driving technology was"hands on." When Autopilot is activated, the driver hears achime and sees an indication on the dashboard telling them to"please keep your hands on the wheel. Be prepared to take overat any time."

Last October, Musk told reporters: "We're being especiallycautious at this stage, so we're advising drivers to keep their
hands on the wheel just in case."

But by April, he told a conference that Autopilot was"almost twice as good as a person," even in its first version.

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It is the second message that appears to have registeredwith drivers. Spurred by confidence in the system's ability toself-steer and stay in its lane on highways, Tesla drivers haveposted YouTube videos of themselves driving hands-free - evenfrom the back seat.

One of them was Musk's ex-wife, actress Talulah Riley, whoin April was filmed by a friend covering her eyes and dancingbehind the wheel of her Tesla Model X, while the car's Autopilotfeature drove the pair on a crowded highway. The video wasposted on YouTube and has been viewed nearly 30,000 times. Rileywas not available for comment.

Mixed messages

The potential for discrepancy in messages is a concern inthe auto industry and beyond.

Brad Stertz, a spokesman for Germany's Audi, told Reuters inNovember that car makers must be "absolutely clear" what leveltheir technology was capable of handling, after the launch ofAutopilot.

"Kudos to Tesla for bringing out the system but you alsoneed to be responsible and clear about what the technology is
capable of doing," Stertz said.

The self-driving feature appears to have played a part inthe May fatality, in which a Model S driver using Autopilot hita truck on a Florida highway. A video disc player was found inthe car, police said.

In a statement, Tesla said that Autopilot "is by far themost advanced driver assistance system on the road, but it doesnot turn a Tesla into an autonomous vehicle and does not allowthe driver to abdicate responsibility."

Legally, Tesla may have a solid defense under Florida law,with safeguards, telling drivers they cannot cede control everytime they engage Autopilot.

Tesla itself rolled back some features in January, includingreducing the speed at which Autopilot can operate onresidentialstreets.

If the system senses a driver is not paying attention, itmakes visual and auditory warnings to place their hands on thewheel or take over immediately. The car can sense whether adriver has hands on the wheel.

"It sounds like (Tesla) they did a fairly good job ofdesigning into the mechanism prompts and reminders about whatthe deal was, and for whatever reason, this guy was not payingattention," said Lars Noah, a University of Florida lawprofessor.

Still, several Tesla owners said Autopilot could drive forseveral minutes before the system beeped to order hands onto thesteering wheel. "It only beeps if it gets confused," said BobPreger of Incline Village, Nevada.

Google's different approach

Alphabet Inc's Google unit, which is also workingon self-driving technology, is taking a different approach,saying that asking drivers to pay attention while the car drivesitself is wrong. Google is focusing its efforts on fullyautonomous vehicles where humans take no part in driving,whereas Tesla believes it should not hold back features to waitfor the day full autonomy is perfected.

"Human drivers can't always be trusted to dip in and out ofthe task of driving when the car is encouraging them to sit backand relax," Chris Urmson, director of Google's self-driving carprogram, told the United States Senate in March.

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