as a name, it's a pretty good descriptor for what the system actually does. the misleading part is all the other marketing telsa does around it, and the muddying of the line between autopilot and full self-driving.
The fact you think this is exactly why Tesla’s naming choice is so dangerous.
Even antiquated general aviation autopilots can intercept headings and change elevation. This is capability that has existed for decades. GA planes are getting the capability to land now. Airliners have been able to land themselves for decades.
Airplanes operate in a completely different environment than cars. Airplanes have radar and radios onboard and rely on ground based information and pre-planning for traffic avoidance. It’s a completely different system.
GM’s vision of self driving cars looked a lot more like the air traffic control system than Tesla’s autopilot.
Not even close. Even light aircraft autopilots can fly a full route from just after takeoff all the way to 200' AGL on final approach. Autopilots in transport category aircraft have full autoland including rollout.
The Autopilot moniker is also used by Tesla to describe automatic lane changing, automatic start/stop at stop lights and 'summon' - so it's not quite just lane keeping assistance and adaptive cruise control.