There was an accident with a Volvo where someone was showing off the pedestrian safety system, and hit a pedestrian. It turned out they hadn't purchased the pedestrian safety system.[1] Something is needed to prevent problems like that.
Then there's mode switching trouble. Classic problem with aircraft control systems. Tesla disengages the "autopilot" if the driver touches the brake. The trouble is that this also disables automatic braking, as the driver is assumed to now be in control. So tapping the brake without applying it fully in a hazardous situation causes a crash.
All these driver behavior problems with shared control authority are hard. Maybe harder than going for level 3 and letting the automation do it.
"Autopilots do not replace a human operator, but assist them in controlling the vehicle, allowing them to focus on broader aspects of operation, such as monitoring the trajectory, weather and systems."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopilot
I've used an autopilot on a yacht and didn't expect it to dock or avoid ships. A plane autopilot doesn't freak out when the pilot takes their hands off the controls. So there seems to be room to allow the name but tighten how it's used.
That is all that most auto pilots in planes do, however. I don't get where "autopilot" somehow came to mean full autonomy in cars but not in planes (and other vehicles like boats) where the term was used previously.
Ridiculous.
Autolanding is not autopilot. In fact, autolanding is not even certified if multiple autopilots are not available to provide redundancy.
