Is "FSD" name misleading?

I personally think the name FSD is misleading. . . But then Elon's claims about FSD are damning [https://www.reuters.com/article/world/tesla-very-close-to-level-5-autonomous-driving-technology-musk-says-idUSKBN24A0H7/](https://www.reuters.com/article/world/tesla-very-close-to-level-5-autonomous-driving-technology-musk-says-idUSKBN24A0H7/) (The link basically says Elon is "confident in level 5 \[in 5 months\]")

I just realized that was 5 years ago :D

Thank god I had the sense to never buy it. My reasoning at the time was that the government wouldn’t legally allow it even if it worked and I didn’t feel like paying thousands for a software that wasn’t allowed to be used. I didn’t even realize the bullet I was dodging lol

Yes, it requires the user to be present, paying attention and ready to take over at any potential moment with just a second or 2 of warning the name Full Self Driving is a lie and great marketing but wholly inaccurate. At that point I should just you know drive myself.

I have never met a tesla driver that hasn't been deceived by the FSD name. Including drivers from Europe and Australia who only have autopilot.

Yes, it absolutely is. He uses sci fi names that strongly imply a much better product than he has because he’s a dick.

True, but autopilot isn't really that novel anymore, can get radar cruise control and lane centering in cars in the $20k price range these days.

It should be named HMPSD “Heavily Monitored Partial Self Driving”

Right. . . When you claim your are 5 months away, but you have delivered nothing but a non-functioning piece of early beta-software 5 years later. . . Overpromise and underdeliver is the name of Elon's game. Another way to put it, your inability to predict the future shows how unintelligent you are. [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ipFsrr39IIM](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ipFsrr39IIM)

It's not just misleading, it's fraud

FSD - Full Self Driving is a misleading name that Tesla has used to pump the stock since 2016.

I would have preferred Navigation Special Drive Automated Program. Bonus points if you get the reference :D

I just thought about this but if the car in front of you slams on the brakes and you’re driving, you’ve already got hands on the wheel, foot on one of the pedals, and you’re already wholly focused on the road to have a minimal reaction time. If it’s FSD and someone slams on the brakes and it requires intervention, you’ve got the delay of reacting and taking control, then getting hands and feet in proper positions to respond. I don’t see how this wouldn’t double or triple reaction times if it hands off control in a close call/accident.

It’s 2025. That article is from 2020. It’s fascinating that people listen to that accidental billionaire.

Are you new here?

Imo it's fraud

Is water wet? Is the sky blue? Is the Pope Catholic? Do bears shit in the woods? Does the sun rise in the east? Does a one legged duck swim in a circle?

My sierra denali super cruise is better than autopilot

Yes it is misleading. It should be called Almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Full Self Driving. Yes, I would take a refund at this point. And given that my car is HW3, that's probably the cheapest solution for all parties. Of course when it comes to it, they will probably want to offer a discount on another Nazi wagon. But not interested.

Here’s my opinion about FSD-if they’d just be honest about the name and price it like software in beta there wouldn’t be a problem. It does pretty good but I’m not paying $8k for something that can’t legally drive me home drunk.

Actually I am, Im trying to figure out if theres any way to get a refund for my FSD purchase too.

Has anyone successfully gotten a refund? Id be interested if there is a route

They definitely think so in France, [link](https://electrek.co/2025/06/24/france-says-tesla-lied-about-fsd-and-more-4-months-to-comply-or-be-fined/) to an article about a recent court ruling

There was some story in the news about some retired lawyer taking them into arbitration and getting both a refund and cost of labor to get through arbitration. But that seems difficult for a normal person.

Elaborate?

Like what? Whats the best car with as much tech as possible in the $20K range? We need a car.

# Is "FSD" name misleading? nope, its straught up fraud. Elon has been seling something for 10 years he knew did not work, would not work and continues to know will not work on the cars he is currently selling. thats fraud, not misleading..... but personally i would buy a tesla if i could afford one... just no fsd.

Or FSD: Fool Self Driving

Dammit, I’m curious. What’s the reference to?

“Puffery”🙄

Honestly best of luck to you. This company has been doing questionable things for a decade, I wouldn't be too optimistic for a refund but good luck.

It is. I differ from a lot of people on this sub since I still have a Tesla and I enjoy using FSD with the gigantic caveat that 1. it's not actually autonomous driving and more of a advanced cruise control and 2. it's only ever reliable on highways and that's only where I would use it. I've had too many close calls in cities where it has tried to go through intersections, blow past stop signs, not slow down for pedestrians, etc. But when I've had to go 45 minutes to an hour on the highway or longer and just want to zone out FSD on the highway just works. It's probably the only feature right now that's keeping me with my model Y. I've test drove Rivian and a Cadillac and it's just not there yet. I went from Orlando back home to Fort Lauderdale which is like 3 hour and 30 minute drive and I did it on the freeway basically with minor supervision. In saying that, it's 100 percent misleading and it's not self driving technology. Even when you're on the highway you need to pay attention to when it passes, etc and there's zero chance I would use it on local streets. None. What Tesla promised when I bought my first Tesla years ago was all bullshit and the fact that my first purchase of FSD, that never got delivered on btw, didn't come onto my Model Y purchase is fucking idiotic. I know like 5 people who have had to rebuy their FSD packages 3 or 4 times from moving to different cars. Tesla to my knowledge has solved this with their subscription bullshit now, though.

Absolutely. I don't know how you sell a product since, what 2016/2017, and claim that the car will drive itself for 10 years and never deliver on that product. I don't get how that's not in the same realm as what Elizabeth Holmes was doing. FSD is just very good advanced highway cruise control. That's it. It's dangerous to use around a city otherwise.

NSDAP = *Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei*  aka Nazi party

I've said from day one that it was a misleading name for something that is more like enhanced adaptive cruise control.

Do people remember how FSD happened? fElon was talking, probably at an earnings call, about the progress of Autopilot development. He made an offhand comment about the ‘full self driving’ ability coming in some arbitrary timeframe, and the Teslarians went apeshit. Very soon after, Tesla started selling FSD.   Yes, the branding is absolutely fraudulent, not merely misleading. But anybody who was dumb enough to buy it still deserves to be mocked for their gullibility.

Very excited for the 2020 Roadster, which we all know began production in 2018 so it should be ready soon.

He's not a billionaire by accident. He's a billionaire by fraud.

>Elon is "confident in level 5 \[in 5 months\] Lol

Yes.

I bought a barely used Nissan Leaf with radar cruise control and lane centering for $20k

Remember when he tried to pump the stock by saying they were “finally dropping the ‘beta’ from FSD” and they just renamed it FSD supervised. Pepperidge Farm remembers

Nah, it's not the English word "full", it's the Swedish one that translates to drunk. The car is drunk self driving.

In China, Tesla can't use the name FSD, they call it supervised or something.

Fake Self Driving

Try putting the acronym into Google.

If any other car company named a product " Full Self Driving ", charged $15K for it, went on national TV and claimed the driver is only needed for legal purposes, and 9 years after doing all this, with multiple deaths logged, still had not delivered a working product, thwre would be hell to pay.

what is this? 2016?

China is better regulated.

Full self driving, you yourself need to fully drive.

that's the trick, it's just around the corner... but he wants you to crowd fund it for him now

It's Fool Self Driving. You misheard it.

Yeah radar (adaptive) cruise control has been a thing since the 90s :D It's quite old tech, solved long ago.

It’s an out-and-out lie. The new language about “unsupervised” FSD is a baldfaced scheme to reframe Full Self Driving as somehow not meaning what it was obviously intended to convince consumers: that the self-driving would be “Full.”

If the current generation is 'FDS' what is it called when it can fully drive itself?

Tesla/Elon already got sued for this. The lawsuit was dropped because Tesla's lawyer stated that you can't sue him for "corporate puffery". There was one lawyer who was able to get his money back through months of arbitration. Elon Musk celebrates winning lawsuit over Tesla self-driving claims with embarrassing defense | Electrek https://share.google/dAGRIsS53GQfDsxRK Arbitrations Forged Against Tesla Begin To Prosper https://share.google/dZHaCEWuPu7BwDmsl Bonus article: Lawsuit against Tesla goes to trial in Florida : NPR https://share.google/tezhoaJR8nQ1CerOb

Dude, no way

The difference between Holmes and Musk is that it’s easier to lie for longer if you’re a man.

Are you using FSD? I don't mean Autopilot either. I use FSD daily, on busy highways and busy downtown streets (i.e. Dallas, TX). It works very well. Is it completely autonomous? Not yet. However, since switching to the machine learning method of training the driving system, I've seen it improve immensely.

Fake self driving

I use it when I'm on the freeway or highway. It's very good on the highway. It's essentially advanced cruise control. It's not autonomous driving at all and does not work very well around the city from my experience at all and I've had a ton of close calls while using it to the point I do not use it outside of the highway unless I'm using it for parking, etc. When you're charging people $8,000 for an add on or $200 a month for a subscription the product better damn well be hands free fully autonomous and not just good advanced cruise control. Also we're talking about what the product I today in 2025. When I bought my model 6 years ago before I bought my Model Y I spent the full amount on FSD and it was shaky ON the highway and I couldn't even transfer the money I spent on the FSD on my Model 3, which I never got autonomous driving, to my Model Y, which I still don't have autonomous driving on it. Like I said in my other post I definitely disagree with a ton of people here because I, like you, use FSD almost every time I drive on the high-way and it's gotten better and it's almost always a smooth experience. I do not think the other competitors are close to matching this experience because from what I've heard Mercedes is the closest one and they still can't operate well in rain or at night. I've test drove Rivian's answer and Cadillac's super cruise or whatever they call it and it's not on the same level as FSD right now.

Start a class action lawsuit or complain to the FTC so they can sue him and demand refunds for all buyers putting them out of biz and making everyone safer.

The F stands for Fraud

Lol

Optimus Prime when the semi is ready. Otherwise, Bumblebee?

Yes it is. It’s not full self driving. It’s advance auto pilot. You are still required to keep your hands on the wheel and remain looking at the road, the camera tracks you. Full self driving would imply it needs zero attention from the driver

Don’t worry if you get into a crash, FSD and Autopilot will be sure to disengage milliseconds before your collision, thus ensuring that Tesla can claim that those systems were not engaged during the accident and it was entirely your fault. Wish I could put a /s but I can’t.

fiery sure death

California DMV is already doing that.

So maybe by 2077.

It’s going to trial soon.

I often find the statement, "overpromise and underdeliver" is also quite generous. I think we can see his pattern of behaviour in all things business, or social opinion to deduce he is a fascist-loving snake oil salesman. What does a fascist-loving snake oil salesman do? Exactly what he's been doing.

Yes

You could 5 years ago too... Nissan, Honda, Toyota & Hyundai all had $20k or sub $20k models with radar cruise and lane centering.

[deleted]

The issue is Tesla have almost no presence of these technologies or their maturity outside of the US. You'll find in other counties, FSD is either not available or substially more limited.

I wouldn't give a cent to Nazis, but that's just me.

Not only does Tesla brazenly lie about FSD, it also HIDES AND DELETES the car data in case you get a fatal accident: [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/05/the-vehicle-suddenly-accelerated-with-our-baby-in-it-the-terrifying-truth-about-why-teslas-cars-keep-crashing](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/05/the-vehicle-suddenly-accelerated-with-our-baby-in-it-the-terrifying-truth-about-why-teslas-cars-keep-crashing)

Jetta is the one new car I know of that now includes lane keeping, adaptive cruise. As standard features in a new car under $30k

Yes I think the FSD name is misleading and wouldn’t be allowed in countries with strong consumer protection laws. Interesting to see how this will play out in Europe and UK, especially since FSD has already been renamed in China to Intelligent Assisted Driving.

This post is correct but 7-8 years late.

Good luck with that

Yes

Carnival barker extraordinaire

Carnival barker extraordinaire

Do you live under a rock? Are microplastics bad?

Elmo wasn't predicting the future. He was telling blatant lies to pump the stock. Every leading industry expert has said Level 5 autonomy is IMPOSSIBLE with existing technology. \[Waymo can only operate on premapped routes inside geofenced areas. It is not 'autonomous' in any meaningful sense.\]

I handed back an end of lease Model 3 in February and replaced it with an id.7. I can tell you the autonomous driving is substantially better in the id.7. Much more composed, smooth, and never randomly slams on the brakes doing 70mph on the motorway or shits itself at a junction. Bonus points, the auto wipers actually work too!

Fake Self Driving.

Realistically in 2025, Tesla cars would be the stunticons. Plasticy, cheap, weirdly off scale, evil but sometimes strangely colorful with the pretension of being offbeat. Merged, they form a gestalt which has powers greater than the reductionist sum of the parts- if the stock is to be believed. So TSLA is Menasor.

Stunticons😂 Are they offical Hasbro creations or are you an allegorical genius?😁

i think it is and so does France! [https://www.cbtnews.com/france-threatens-tesla-with-fines-over-misleading-fsd-claims/](https://www.cbtnews.com/france-threatens-tesla-with-fines-over-misleading-fsd-claims/)

Yes

And he was born rich

full suicidal driving

It depends what you mean by "FSD" - "Full Self-Driving"/"FSD" is obviously misleading because it is not capable of fully self-driving. - "Full Self-Driving Beta", deeply misleading as it implies that Tesla is on the verge of releasing a Full Self-Driving system and all it needs is a round of mass user acceptance testing to find the last few bugs. In actual fact "FSD" fails so frequently that you don't need an army of amateur testers to find bugs and iterate, you could just pay a couple interns to drive a Model 3 around the block until it goes "beeBEEEbeep". - "Full Self Driving (supervised)"/"Supervised Full Self-Driving" is perfectly accurate but also an oxymoron. It can full self-drive so long as a human being is supervising it to prevent it from crashing. Totally true, also describes basically any cruise control system ever built. I can make a self-driving car too, all I need is a brick to put on the accelerator pedal and a rope to tie the steering wheel straight.

Elizabeth Holmes stole from rich people.

which Dynamic Driving Task does FSD *not* perform, that performing would make it be considered “full”?

it’s not though. adaptive cruise with lane centering has as much chance as getting me to work without input as a brick on the accelerator pedal. FSD gets me to work without input 95% of the time, which while clearly not L4 automation, is a “universe heat-death” kind of difference between the luck of a brick or another L2 system.

because FSD currently takes people from parking spot to parking spot without input or intervention more often than not. and it does so on any car that Tesla sold since 2018. meanwhile, any other L2 driver assist system has about the same odds as a brick on the accelerator pedal of doing this, let alone a 90%+ chance. so yea, it’s reasonable to allow Tesla to differentiate the *behavior* of this system compared to others, even if the SAE level is the same. SAE is measuring something closer to *durability* or *reliability* than it is measuring *functionality* or *capability*.

Why call it full if you need to monitor it constantly and if you screw up few times they lock you out? The driving part if maybe it does not do this shit you see on youtube if you search FSD. As i said it drive well like 80% while you heavily monitor it

100 mile range not going to cut it out for most people

It’s 220

200 if u get the largest battery 140 for the standard battery also you factor in that nissan has to reduce your max charge so the battery stays healthier longer as well as driving on highway 70 mph will already reduce the range another 15% from rated epa and 80 will reduce it another 25% ontop of the amount loss can be up to 30% from the weather depending if you live some where cold since nissans heat pump is very inefficient. Real world range on a leaf is a lot different then what they state

Yeah, I think the acronym is "NDTTENIOD" Or New Driver That Thinks Everything and Nothing Is an Obstacle... Drive(ish)

“Misleading”? No. An out right lie? Yes.

Ah! Thank you.

There’s a difference between being misled and being lied to. Elon literally said that FSD would be able to drive you from LA to New York without once single drivers input. I knew it was BS at the time. Especially considering he’s trying to achieve that with a vision-based system. It was obviously never gonna work. And if it did, what about when it rains? Or a piece of trash sticks to one of the cams? FSD is not “misleading”, you were just conned.

I thought it was "Future self driving"

It may or may not. There have been plenty of cases where it didn’t disengage prior to an accident.

I’m sure Elon will fix that bug (not disengaging) in the next beta release.