“Autopilot” is worse, not because of what “autopilot” actually means in aviation, but because of what “autopilot” suggests to the car-buying public, who are, generally, not aviators.

What does the car-buying public think those folks in blue suits are doing at the front of the plane?

Giving each other handskys!

No, I think many people just don't like the term and so decided everyone is confused by it. They're not.

It's not self-driving, it's autopilot. That's the contrast they're drawing, and it actually IS clear to the car-buying public. A car is the second biggest single purchase you're going to make in your life, so people aren't going to /not/ figure out what the term means before buying the car.

If the market is confused about the term and it's not clear in practice - it's still not a good term to use.

I definitely think it's worse than cruise control as you suggest. Cruise control systems control your cruising speed. Autopilot has way too many asterisks right now.

Pilots require years of specialized training. Airplane autopilots have been around for decades and you aren't going to have an issue with unskilled pilots attempting to rely on them for things they can't handle based on a name alone.

Also, airplane autopilots do fly the plane for you (including take-off and landing). They can certainly do so more safely than Tesla's "autopilot" does. A lot of this has to do with the aviation environment being much more controlled.

This whole comment thread seems like a distraction in the form of a non sequitur, though. If Tesla is falsely claiming capabilities that their system does not actually possess right in the name, and that causes deaths, then they could easily be liable, and at a minimum they need to stop.

There is no evidence that Tesla owners are getting misled by the name.

This very article describes a situation where the name of the feature doesn't seem to have played any role in the accident.