Germany tells Tesla to ditch Autopilot brand in advertisements

A German motor authority has told US carmaker Tesla to drop the Autopilot name for its cars which use self-driving technology.

The Federal Motor Transport Authority has told Elon Musk's company that the brand name is misleading for prospective customers, who will have "incorrect expectations" for their cars.

Tesla has consistently maintained that their Autopilot system is not designed to let the driver relinquish control of the car, but is a mere aid to those behind the wheel.

However, there has been some isolated incidents involving the use of the technology in which drivers have been hurt, or killed, whilst using Autopilot.

One such incident occurred in Florida in May in which Joshua Brown was killed in a crash.

"It can be confirmed that a letter to Tesla exists with the request to no longer use the misleading term Autopilot for the driver-assistance system of the car," a KBA spokeswoman told Reuters.

Tesla responded to the letter from the KBA to defend its naming of its system, saying that it had been used various times before by other companies.

"Tesla's Autopilot operates in conjunction with the human driver to make driving safer and less stressful. This is how the term has been used for decades in aerospace: to denote a support system that operates under the direct supervision of a human pilot," the carmaker said.

"We have always been clear with our customers that Autopilot is a drivers assistance system that requires the driver to pay attention at all times."

Elon Musk was due to make an announcement for new software on Monday, but that is now expected to be pushed back to Wednesday at the earliest.