This is closer to how Tesla markets the Autopilot feature here in the United States.
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“What’s important for these emerging EV companies.is the potential change in customer experience, if they can transform the way the vehicle fits into our lives”, says James Chao, Asia-Pacific managing director at consultant IHS.
Shen Haiyin, the company’s 42-year-old founder and CEO, says he, too, is targeting big-city drivers with more affordable EVs, with third-party engineering and a Japanese electric propulsion system, to be sold under the Jidian brand name.
But the driver, Luo Zhen, claimed he was misled by Tesla. Under Chinese law, drivers are required to keep two hands on the wheel at all times.
The influential magazine also said that Tesla should disconnect the automatic steering system until it’s updated to make sure a driver’s hands are on the wheel at all times.
Turns out the same Chinese phrase used for “autopilot” in the airline world (zi dong jia shi) is the same phrase used in wording on Tesla’s Chinese website, a phrase that best means, “self-driving”.
Tesla removed the word “autopilot” and a Chinese term for “self-driving” from its China website after a driver in Beijing who crashed in “autopilot” mode complained that the vehicle maker overplayed the function’s capability and misled buyers.
The latest mishap comes in the wake of a fatal crash in Florida in May, when a Tesla running on Autopilot crashed into a big rig, killing the driver. The crash raised questions not only about Autopilot technology, but also about how its limitations are or aren’t being communicated to drivers.
If you were buying a vehicle that offered Autopilot you might believe that you have bought a auto that self-drives. The exact cause of the incident is still under investigation by both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board. “With smart, connected cars, I believe I can change that”, says Shen, who has an engineering Masters from University of California at Los Angeles.
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Putting the auto on Autopilot is like taking a sleeping pill: it is much more hard to maintain passive attention over time than to actively drive the vehicle. Level 5 is the point at which a driver has no ability to control the operation of the vehicle at all – no steering wheel, no throttle, and no brake pedal. Much like Tesla, Mercedes was criticized for giving users the false sense that the car’s technology was sufficiently advanced as to be completely self-driving.
