The self-driving car industry is abandoning the term ‘self-driving’ and leaving it to Tesla

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

The Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets is over.

The top lobbying group in Washington, DC is dropping the reference to self-driving in exchange for a simpler name. The group was founded in 2016 and lobbies for legislation favorable to its members. Cruise, Aurora, Motional, Nuro, and Zoox are some of the top audiovisual operators in the country.

It is the latest move by the industry to distance itself from the term "self-driving", which many observers think is an acknowledgment of the influence of the company.

A feature called "Full Self-Driving" is a version of an advanced driver assist system that requires human supervision, but is sold by the company. There are cars that can operate on public roads without supervision.

The lobbying group doesn't refer toTesla in its announcement, but it does say that its new name better fits with its members, policymakers, journalists and the public.

The association recently called on all stakeholders to clearly distinguish between AVs and driver-assist to boost consumer trust and understanding. AVIA advocates for autonomous vehicles, which perform the entire driving task. AVs do not require human operators, not even to serve as a backup driver; the people or packages in the vehicle are just passengers or freight.

In an effort to use more deliberate language in its marketing, the company decided a year ago to stop using the term "self-driving cars". The term "self-driving" can lead to confusion and possibly crashes.

Years ago, Waymo considered developing an advanced driver- assist system like the one offered byTesla, but decided against it, having become alarmed. Drivers would fall asleep at the wheel.

There are calls to standardize the language used to describe driving. Ford supports the use of standardized visual cues to communicate intent to pedestrians, bicyclists, and other drivers.

The Society of automotive Engineers defines the five levels of automation as being overly broad and possibly dangerous. Most experts agree that we need a better way to talk about cars.

Federal regulators agree. Pete Buttigieg, US Secretary of Transportation, criticized any company that uses misleading language to describe driver-assist features.

"Anything on the market today that you can buy is a driver assistance technology, not a driver replacement technology," Buttigieg said. Even if companies are not, we need to be clear about that.

Some people in the industry were skeptical about the move. There were concerns about what it would mean to give up the term self-driving. The idea of abandoning the term in favor of continuing to educate the public about the differences between its vehicles and ones with Level 2 driver assist systems was pushed back against by some of the company CEOs.

It seems like those fears have been realized after the lobbying group dropped the term. What will happen whenTesla releases a product called fully autonomously?