Teslas aren't planes, though, so how does the etymology of the word "autopilot" help here?

Um.

> Autopilot is such a misleading term.

>> The functionality is almost identical to the only other time we regularly use "autopilot", in airplanes.

>>> Yeah but like, who cares about etymology and stuff? Misleading af.

Ok, I'll try in other words: Statistically speaking, about zero persons know how the autopilot in a plane works (me included), while they do know the word autopilot. Therefore, they can't infer the limitations of Teslas autopilot from a plane's autopilot.

I seriously don't understand this disconnect. You know the word autopilot because it is a technology in airplanes. That is the only reason you know of the word.

Statistically speaking, 100% of people know that 1. Airplanes can have autopilot 2. Passenger jets still have multiple pilots in the cockpit, even with autopilot.

You don't need to know the intricacies of how autopilot functions to recognize the significance of those two facts (which I'm sure you knew) and apply the same to Tesla.

The etymology doesn't help.

It was an intentionally misleading word for Tesla to choose.