CHINA TOPIX

11/21/2024 11:45:13 pm

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Tesla Changes 'Autopilot' Label on China Website

Tesla employees undergone training to ensure quality demonstration for self-driving cars.

(Photo : Getty Images) Tesla employees in China undergone training to ensure quality demonstration of self-driving cars.

Tesla has modified its Chinese website by removing the word "autopilot" and bumping up training for Tesla Chinese staff.

This move came after a Beijing driver, who sideswiped a parked car when the "autopilot" system was engaged, accused the car maker of overplaying its capabilities. It was the first known such crash in China, and it follows a fatal accident in Florida earlier this year that put pressure on auto executives and regulators to tighten rules for automated driving.

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Autopilot is designed to help drivers change lanes, maintain a safe speed and find parking spaces. When drivers turn it on, a message appears on the instrument panel warning them to keep their hands on the wheel. Autopilot has a new Summon feature that allows drivers to "call" their car from their phone so it can come greet them at the front door in the morning.

Tesla decided to scale back its description of Autopilot on its website and in other marketing materials from “zi dong jia shi” (the car can drive itself) to “zi dong fu zhu jia shi” (the car is a driver-assist system), CBS Local reported. Also, Tesla has told its China-based sales staff to make the system’s limitations clear to consumers. 

“At Tesla, we are continuously making improvements including to translation. We’ve been in the process of addressing any discrepancies across languages for many weeks. Timing had nothing to do with current events or articles,” a Tesla spokesperson said.

Employees of the American automotive company have undergone additional training. This is to ensure that when demonstrating the autopilot feature of the car, they would keep two hands on the steering wheel at all times to let customers know that this is not a self-driving feature, according to Mac Rumors. 

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