[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Too much focus of the use of a term, IMHO. Anyone in the aviation world knows that autopilots have been around for decades but no one interprets that as meaning there's no requirement for a pilot to monitor, and remain in control of the aircraft, even when the autopilot is engaged.

And how is the term 'autopilot' any different to 'cruise control' in the connotations that term ascribes? We only know the limitations of the term from many years of using a vehicle with that function and a decent description of the system's limitations in the drivers handbook.

I'd imagine the handbook for the Tesla describes in detail the limitations of the system. Imagine how many pages of warnings there are in the handbook on that function alone! But, who reads handbooks, right? Let's just make our own assumptions around a term that's used and run with that

A quick search on wiki shows that Tesla's 'autopilot' system is only classified as Level 2 under the SAE six levels (0 to 5) of vehicle automation. Even the wiki page highlights that the driver still needs to be monitoring progress of the vehicle (my bold):

Level 2 ("hands off"): The automated system takes full control of the vehicle: accelerating, braking, and steering. The driver must monitor the driving and be prepared to intervene immediately at any time if the automated system fails to respond properly. The shorthand "hands off" is not meant to be taken literally – contact between hand and wheel is often mandatory during SAE 2 driving, to confirm that the driver is ready to intervene. The eyes of the driver may be monitored by cameras to confirm that the driver is keeping their attention to traffic. Actual hands off driving is sometimes considered level 2.5, although there are no official half-levels. A common example is adaptive cruise control, which also utilizes lane keeping assist technology so that the driver simply monitors the vehicle, such as "Super-Cruise" in the Cadillac CT6 by General Motors or Ford's F-150 BlueCruise.[84]