Teslas running Autopilot involved in 273 reported crashes: report
Nearly 400 automobiles using partially automated driver-assist systems were involved in collisions between July and May, according to statistics released Wednesday.
Tesla vehicles accounted for 273 crashes reported by automakers and those occurred when their drivers were using Autopilot, “Full Self-Driving,” Traffic Aware Cruise Control, or other systems that assist operators with speed and steering, U.S. safety regulators said.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration noted that data doesn’t take into account how many cars each manufacturer has on the road or how many miles those vehicle were driven. The data should also not be used to compare automakers’ performances.
Tesla has approximately 830,000 vehicles with driver-assist systems operating. The company notes that its vehicles are not meant to drive themselves without human oversight.
Honda said it has 6 million such vehicles on the road, but reported only 90 crashes. Subaru, whose driver-assist autos were involved in 10 collisions, is the only other manufacturer to report double-digit incidents.
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The NHTSA said that five people were killed and six were injured in the 392 crashes reported. That drivers’ safety organization asks automakers and relevant technology companies to report serious collisions within a day of being made aware of them. Said companies are given just over two weeks to report less serious incidents.
NHTSA notes that Tesla is the only carmaker that uses telematics tracking to receive real-time reports of crashes involving its cars, which may lead to a higher collision count. It’s not known how many car owners who have driver-assist systems use that technology when operating their vehicles. NHTSA relies on unverfied customer reports to determine if their cars’ automated systems were in use when a collision occurred.
In this March 23, 2018, file photo provided by KTVU, emergency personnel work a the scene where a Tesla electric SUV crashed into a barrier on U.S. Highway 101 in Mountain View, Calif. The Apple engineer who died when his Tesla Model X crashed into the concrete barrier complained before his death that the SUV's Autopilot system would malfunction in the area where the crash happened.
The data used by NHTSA isn’t enough to evaluate the safety of automated vehicles, according to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents most automakers. NHTSA officials claim they have used collected data to seek a recall, open investigations and tend to existing inquiries.
“These data will also help us identify crashes that we want to investigate and provide more information about how people in other vehicles interact with the vehicles,” NHTSA administrator Steven Cliff said.
With News Wire Services
