Tesla has officially retired the names “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” in California, renaming its driver assistance features to avoid legal penalties. The move comes after the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) threatened to suspend the company’s dealer license over what regulators deemed misleading marketing.
The Core Issue: Misleading Branding
For years, Tesla has marketed its driver-assistance systems under the names “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving,” despite the fact that these systems still require full driver attention. The California DMV ruled in December that these names exaggerated the capabilities of the technology and violated state law. Specifically, Tesla’s claims that the systems could operate “with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat” were flagged as false. Even Tesla’s most advanced system is considered Level 2 autonomy, meaning it needs active human oversight.
Regulatory Response & Consequences
California regulators threatened to suspend Tesla’s dealer license if the company didn’t comply with the new naming conventions. Tesla responded by renaming “Full Self-Driving” to “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” and “Autopilot” to “Traffic Aware Cruise Control” in all marketing material. The DMV confirmed Tesla took the necessary steps to avoid the license suspension.
Beyond California: Company-Wide Change
The name changes have already been implemented on Tesla’s website and appear to extend beyond California. However, this regulatory pressure does not appear to have changed the approach of CEO Elon Musk, who still promotes the systems on social media with enthusiastic endorsements.
The key takeaway: This situation underscores the growing scrutiny of autonomous driving terminology and the need for automakers to accurately represent their systems’ capabilities. The California DMV’s decision sets a precedent for other states and may force Tesla to adopt more conservative branding across the board.
