Hurry up and bar Tesla from using the Autopilot name in marketing, consumer group tells DMV

The California Department of Motor Vehicles put forth proposed regulations that would, in effect, prohibit Tesla from using the Autopilot name to market its vehicles. Now, a consumer group is telling the DMV to get on with it. Tesla uses the word Autopilot to describe its driver-assist technology, which, when enabled, automatically steers, brakes and passes other vehicles. Consumer Watchdog, based in Santa Monica, contends Tesla is misleading consumers by exaggerating Autopilot's capabilities. The DMV should "enact a regulation protecting consumers from misleading advertising that leaves the dangerous -- and sometimes fatal -- impression that a car is more capable of driving itself than is actually the case," John M. Simpson, privacy policy director at Consumer Watchdog, said in a Nov. 23 letter to the agency's director, Jean Shiomoto.