The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has produced its first annual report on crashes caused by driving assistance software installed on some vehicles from firms such as Tesla, Honda and Toyota, among others, being turned on and running. After reports from various manufacturers, the administration concluded that autopilot models of the electric car company founded and run by Elon Musk participated in 273 accidents out of 392 related to advanced driver assistance systems since last July.
So Tesla cars accounts for about 70% of all accidents. which was running ADAS Level 2 (Advanced Driving Assistance Systems). The administration also said that 5 out of 6 deaths associated with these types of accidents – some of them occurred in 2019 but have not yet been reported – are related to their vehicles. According to the data, Elon Musk’s models represent 60% of accidents in which one or more people were seriously injured, and approximately 85% in which someone died.
This data calls into question the operation of the level 2 ADAS system that Tesla includes in its vehicles. However, while they may seem disturbing, are not final. While the NHTSA report is based on information provided by the manufacturers themselves, there are a number of factors to consider that may indicate that Tesla Autopilot is in fact as safe as systems from other manufacturers.
The NHTSA report does not guarantee that Tesla’s Autopilot is worse than the ADAS of other vehicles.