TSLA Tesla Inc

SHANGHAI—Tesla Motor Inc. has revised the marketing of its Autopilot feature in China, after a Beijing driver who sideswiped a parked car when the system was engaged accused the car maker of overplaying its capabilities.

Since the weekend, the company has scaled back its description of Autopilot on its website and in other marketing materials from zi dong jia shi, meaning the car can drive itself, to zi dong fu zhu jia shi, meaning it is a driver-assist system. Also, Tesla has told its China-based sales staff to make the system's limitations clear to consumers.

Autopilot is designed to help drivers change lanes, maintain a safe speed and find parking spaces. When drivers turn it on, a message appears on the instrument panel warning them to keep their hands on the wheel.

A spokeswoman for Tesla in China, Duan Zhengzheng, confirmed the changes Tuesday, saying they are meant to alert drivers world-wide, especially outside the U.S., that driving with Autopilot turned on doesn't eliminate risks.

"We want to highlight to non-English speaking consumers that Autopilot is a driver-assist function," she said.

Autopilot has faced scrutiny since a fatal May 7 Model S crash in Florida. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in June said it would investigate the crash, the first known Autopilot-related fatality.

In China, the Autopilot issue went viral last week when Luo Zhen, the Beijing driver, posted a video showing how his Tesla brushed an illegally parked Volkswagen on a highway while Autopilot was activated. There were no injuries. Tesla confirmed the incident, but added that the driver was detected not to have had his hands on the wheel despite the dashboard warning—and Chinese traffic laws, which require two hands on the wheel at all times.

Mr. Luo admitted taking his hands off the steering wheel before the accident. But the 33-year-old programmer said Tesla sales representatives had misled him into thinking that the car has full self-driving capabilities, even taking their own hands off the wheel when demonstrating Autopilot.

"The car manual has hundred of pages," said Mr. Luo. "If you were me, would you read it from the first page to the last?"

A handful of crashes have been linked to the software since its debut in October. Several driverless-car advocates have criticized Autopilot for lulling drivers into believing the car is in control—as evidenced by videos drivers have posted online showing themselves reading or even sitting in the back seat while the car drove itself—when in fact it requires them to remain alert.

In China the issue has also underlined concerns about how any technology could keep up with the country's often chaotic traffic conditions, in which few drivers, cyclists or pedestrians seem to be following the rules of the road.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said last month the company has no plans to disable its Autopilot function, and would redouble its driver-education efforts.

Rose Yu

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 16, 2016 03:55 ET (07:55 GMT)

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