aesculus
Still Trying to Figure This All Out
OK. I have not flown much in 15 years and not with very sophisticated navigation systems (RNAV was as good as it got). But I never had an AP ask me to take over. It would fly me into a mountain if I set the speed, course and elevation. And forget other obstacles like planes, weather etc.A plane has autopilot. A plane also has pilots. Autopilot will follow an indicated path, but when the autopilot system senses a situation it cannot handle it asks that the pilot take over.
That's why Tesla called the system Autopilot. I'm sure they thought that people would understand the analogy.
To me my Tesla AP is much more sophisticated than the average aircraft AP.