According to a new report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), vehicles using Tesla’s Autopilot software were involved in 273 crashes last year. The crashes occurred in just 10 months. The NHTSA report provides insight into the effectiveness of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) from both Tesla (Autopilot) and other companies. ADAS features can automate some vehicle such as steering, braking, and acceleration, but they cannot make a car fully autonomous.
The data comes from a mandate NHTSA gave automakers last June, which asked them to report any known incidents involving technologies , known as Level 2 systems. The regulator also told autonomous vehicle companies like Waymo to share information about accidentswhen they occur.
See also: Survey of Tesla owners who drive another vehicle: What are the chances of crashing?
According to the report, automakers reported 392 accidents involving ADAS systems. These accidents occurred between July 2021 and May 15, 2022. Tesla and its Autopilot software recorded the most. Honda was next with 90 accidents. Subaru recorded 10, Ford five and Toyota four. The report also includes seven other automakers that reported three or fewer incidents during that time period.
In the 392 incidents recorded by the organization, six people died and five were seriously injured. In Tesla's case, out of 273 accidents, five were fatal.
Some of the reported accidents involved other vehicles colliding with cars from an automaker (Tesla or another) with ADAS capability.
NHTSA conducted the study as part of a broader effort by the U.S. government to understand the risks and benefits of ADAS systems. More and more automakers are focusing on developing such systems, which aim to make vehicles more autonomous so that drivers don’t have to work so hard to drive. In addition, NHTSA has come under fire in recent years for taking a relatively passive stance toward automakers: “Until last year, NHTSA’s response to autonomous vehicles and ADAS systems was, frankly, passive,” said Matthew Wansley, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law in New York. “This is the first time the federal government has directly collected crash data for these technologies.”
See also: Ford: F-150 Lightning owners can also recharge Tesla
Tesla is constantly developing its Autopilot system to give its customers more freedom, but it has come under constant scrutiny from regulators after a series of accidents in which Autopilot-enabled cars crashed into stopped vehicles. Although Tesla tells drivers to pay attention to the road regardless of whether they use the self-driving system, safety have criticized Autopilot. Numerous videos have surfaced over the years depicting drivers falling asleep or abusing Tesla's system.
Although Tesla recorded the most accidents, we can't say for sure that its Autopilot system is worse than other companies' systems, as to say that we need to have other information at our disposal, such as the number of vehicles by manufacturer and the number of miles they drive on U.S. roads. This information is not available.
Every vehicle Tesla sells comes with Autopilot, which, among other things, allows a car to automatically follow lanes on the road and maintain a set distance from the car in front. Other manufacturers typically offer their own systems as options, which can skew the data in their favor.
See also: Aptera: 22,000 reservations for the “solar electric vehicle” with a range of 1,000 miles
NHTSA also warned that some manufacturers may have easier access to accident data, which could skew the data. Some accidents may not have been reported, while others may have been counted twice if they involved multiple vehicles with ADAS systems.
In a statement to Insider, Honda said the public should not make comparisons between automakers, as they have different methods of collecting accident data and different numbers of vehicles on the road.
Source: www.businessinsider.com
