Tesla's 'self-driving' still doesn't do what it promises, but Elon Musk just said it's getting more expensive

Over the weekend, Elon Musk said Tesla would raise the price of what the automaker calls “Full Self Driving” from $12,000 to $15,000 starting Sept. 5. Keep in mind that this feature, which Tesla aficionados call FSD - is still in beta. This means that the company is raising the price of a feature that hasn't even been released yet.

Of course, Musk has been promising for over a year that FSD "will be available soon." That's not the only problem, however. The biggest problem is that FSD doesn't even do what the name suggests. I mean, if you call something "fully self-driving", it certainly makes the car feel like it's capable of driving on its own.

If you asked most people what that means, they'd probably say they expect the vehicle to navigate between two locations while you're watching a movie, playing a video game, or taking a siesta. That could very well be the future, but it's still a long way off at this point.

Instead, FSD is essentially an advanced driver assistance feature that keeps your vehicle in its lane, adapts to the speed of a vehicle in front of you, and in some cases stops at red lights or navigate certain roads. . What he won't do is drive himself, especially not all the way.

Of course, Tesla fans like to point out that anyone using FSD is well aware of its limitations. Except that doesn't seem to be true.

California is reviewing whether the name is misleading and whether Tesla should be able to continue selling vehicles in the state. Even Tesla's lower-level driver assistance, known as Autopilot, has come under scrutiny after a series of crashes involving drivers who activated the feature.

Autopilot certainly sounds like something that's capable of doing much more than just keeping your vehicle a set distance behind the car in front of you and keeping it in its lane. The technology is good, but the name creates expectations that it cannot meet.

Compare that with General Motors' driver assistance program, known as Super Cruise, which is a fantastic name. Super Cruise feels like a more advanced version of cruise control, something every driver understands.

Listen, I have a Model S and it's fantastic. Our family loves it. It's super fun to drive, but that's the point - it's a thing you drive. He does not drive himself.

Tesla isn't the only automaker facing the same challenge. Every company is trying to solve what is arguably one of the toughest artificial intelligence challenges known to man. None of them understood it. The biggest difference is that Tesla is the only one that keeps promising it can do things it definitely isn't.

To be fair, Tesla has a section on its website describing the capabilities of its Autopilot and FSD. Here's how he describes the first one:

Autopilot lets your car steer, accelerate, and brake automatically in its lane under your active supervision, helping you through the most tedious parts of driving. With over-the-air software updates, the latest enhancements are available instantly.

I've found Autopilot to be good for basic driving assistance, but that's just it. It's not what many people might think of when they hear the word "autopilot". You may say it's just semantics, but words create expectations, and expectations are everything.