Tesla has never had and probably won't have fully self-driving cars in the near future. Now the consequences are being felt in China, where "fully self-driving" is disappearing.
Tesla is now abandoning calling its cars "fully self-driving." To begin with, the brand is withdrawing the designation in China.
Tesla, which has been marketing the optional equipment called "Full Self-Driving" in the US for several years, now acknowledges that the car is not self-driving in the sense that the name suggests.
An article from Electrek states that Tesla in China has renamed the system "Intelligent Assisted Driving".
In addition to "Full Self-Driving Capability," Tesla is also changing the name of the "upgraded Autopilot" in China to "Extended Assisted Driving."
The basic autopilot system that comes standard in all Tesla cars will now be called "Basic Assisted Driving".
Is Tesla bringing the name change to Denmark?
The name changes are intended to create a more realistic expectation of the cars' actual capabilities, but Tesla is changing more than just the names of the car brand's equipment.
According to the Reuters news agency, the car brand has had to temporarily suspend a series of tests with self-driving technology on Chinese roads.
However, the news agency also writes that Tesla has resumed work again.
Several media outlets report that Tesla initially had to withdraw the test because the cars continued to break traffic rules. Among other things, they ran red lights, used bicycle lanes, and made several illegal turns.
Since China monitors its citizens on a large scale – including in traffic – the people that Tesla sent out in the cars have been fined for the violations.
It is now being investigated whether the violations occurred while Tesla was testing self-driving technology. The story does not say whether Tesla intends to pay the fines on behalf of the employees.
The question of Tesla's name change also leaves drivers with second thoughts. Many have taken the car brand's word for granted and believed that the cars were/are self-driving.
This has led to several fatal accidents. On one occasion, a Tesla owner was stabbed by his wife. It ended up costing him over 700,000 kroner. Read more about it here .
