Tesla has released new data highlighting the safety of its controversial autopilot technology. However, the facts behind this data are not as clear as the company presents. Let’s take a look at the details together.
Tesla autopilot accident statistics
Tesla announced that it recorded one accident every 7.63 million miles (12.27 million km) for US drivers who enabled autopilot. For drivers without autopilot, the rate was reported as one accident every 955,000 miles (1,536,923 km).
The company compared this data to general data from US auto safety regulators, claiming that vehicles with autopilot are 11 times safer than other vehicles.
However, autopilot is generally used on US highways. The data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) covers all roads. Accidents occur more frequently on urban and undivided roads. Moreover, NHTSA’s data includes all vehicles, including trucks, buses and older model cars. Therefore, Tesla’s claim does not offer a clear comparison.
Tesla started publishing vehicle safety reports in 2018, and these reports were used to demonstrate the safety of its autopilot technology. However, the company stopped releasing this data after the last quarter of 2022 and this week released its first quarter 2024 report.
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Tesla has also faced multiple lawsuits and federal investigations in defense of its autopilot technology. In 2016, the first autopilot-related fatality occurred when Joshua Brown of Ohio crashed into a truck in Florida. After this accident, updates were made to the software.
Many more accidents occurred in the future and some led to lawsuits. Last October, Tesla won its first US jury trial in an autopilot accident. But the company has at least a dozen more lawsuits in the US. Last month, Tesla also won a case involving an Apple engineer who crashed into a barrier with autopilot active.
According to the NHTSA, there have been more than 200 autopilot-related accidents and 29 fatalities. The agency has launched more than 50 special accident investigations into Tesla vehicles. Last month, after closing a years-long investigation, NHTSA opened a new one. In December, concerns were identified about Tesla’s recall of more than 2 million electric vehicles, including almost all of its vehicles in the US.
