Airline Pilot, a Tesla Model 3 Fan, Says It's Laughable To Put Autopilots in Cars With Untrained Masses

Tesla's Autopilot feature has been a source of controvert in the past several days after a crash of Model S, prompting a NHTSA investigation.Tesla says Autopilot is a feature to assist the driver. It doesn't make Model S a self-driving car. But I read a very interesting and a long comment by Dan Manusos, in Chevy Volt Owners public Facebook group, in which he says he is a pilot and finds putting untrained and undisciplined masses in Autopilot cars laughable and horrific.

Here is Manusos in his own words, quoted from the public group.

Just as jetliners don't "fly themselves" neither will cars "drive themselves". The so called autopilot is only a tool to help reduce workload and fatigue for the operator, weather it be a pilot or a car driver.

Autopilot Reduces the Load, but Keep Your Eyes on The Road
Just as switching to our Chevy Volt from our Ford Expedition for cross country drives massively reduced our fatigue because of the much smoother and quieter ride, a so called "auto" pilot will further reduce fatigue by making all those tedious and repetitive inputs to the steering wheel during a long drive. But you sure don't take your eyes off the road.

The "auto" pilot in most cases is the first thing to check out in a situation where there is an irregularity or outright malfunction. Just as it did for Air France in 2009.

There is no way this guy should have been watching a movie as was reported by the truck driver.

As one of the TWA Captains, 'aviation gods all of them', told me when I was new on the MD-80, "you treat the Autopilot like your 13 year old son. First you tell it what to do, when you watch it all the time to see if it does what told it to do. And ensure that it keeps doing what you told it to do."