The training wheels are starting to come off.
The Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, a Washington, DC-based lobbying group representing a number of auto industry stalwarts, has changed its name to the ARPA.
The group didn't mention the company in its announcement, but the move is likely a response to the company's efforts to market its self-driving feature.
Musk has said that he will have fully self-driving cars on the road next year, but they are still not able to drive themselves.
The term "self-driving" has been associated with baggage and has contributed to the erosion of consumer confidence.
The association recently called on all stakeholders to clearly distinguish between the two, to boost consumer trust and understanding.
The entire driving task can be performed by self-driving vehicles.
In other words, the group is saying that the vehicles are like living rooms on wheels, which wouldn't even need steering wheels.
Self-driving technologies such as the one offered byTesla are not taking over driving duties, but are simply assisting the driver.
Last year, the company that is one of the biggest proponents of self-driving technologies announced that it would stop using the term "self-driving car."
It may seem like a small change, but it is important because it could save lives.
Over the last couple of years, there have been several instances of owners of the company using the company's self-driving features, from falling asleep at the wheel to doing reckless stunts for social media clout.
Regulators don't like those antics.
In August, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a formal investigation into a series of accidents in which the autopilot system of the electric car maker, Tesla, was involved.
The White House is unhappy with the marketing of self-driving technologies to consumers, despite dragging its feet on policies to stop it.
US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said that anything on the market today that you can buy is a driver assistance technology, not a driver replacement technology. Even if companies are not, we need to be clear about that.
It remains to be seen if the strategy of marketing a self-driving feature as C will pay off in the long run.
The self-driving car industry is abandoning the term self-driving and leaving it toTesla.
Next year, watch the self-driving cars promised by Musk.
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