Electric vehicle giant Tesla has decided to disclose its Autopilot safety data again after taking a more than one-year break.
Tesla’s “Vehicle Safety Report”
In hindsight, Tesla used to prepare a “Vehicle Safety Report” that determines the number of miles between accidents in its electric vehicles depending on the Autopilot level used (or not used). After that, Tesla compares the data to the industry average.
Tesla cited the report to establish that its advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) enabled a safer driving experience than average cars without Autopilot.
However, many criticized the report due to its limited data and inconsideration of the fact that accidents more commonly occur on city roads and undivided roads than on highways.
Despite this, it was the only data Tesla disclosed about the Autopilot. That said, it still played a crucial role for the industry and fans to track the ADAS’ development progress.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, Tesla suddenly stopped releasing a Vehicle safety report without offering an explanation.
Now, Tesla decided to publicize the safety data once again after more than a year.
Latest figures show improvement
As you can notice in the report, there was a substantial decline in miles driven between accidents in the first quarter of 2023 compared to Q1 2022. It might explain the reason behind the Musk-led company’s move to keep the data confidential at that time.
“In the 1st quarter, we recorded one crash for every 5.18 million miles driven in which drivers were using Autopilot technology. For drivers who were not using Autopilot technology, we recorded one crash for every 1.10 million miles driven. By comparison, the most recent data available from NHTSA and FHWA (from 2022) shows that in the United States there was an automobile crash approximately every 670,000 miles.”
Tesla
Tesla seems to be only sharing the data as Q1 2024 indicates a major advancement in Autopilot’s safety.
“In the 1st quarter, we recorded one crash for every 7.63 million miles driven in which drivers were using Autopilot technology. For drivers who were not using Autopilot technology, we recorded one crash for every 955,000 miles driven. By comparison, the most recent data available from NHTSA and FHWA (from 2022) shows that in the United States there was an automobile crash approximately every 670,000 miles.”
Tesla
Can Tesla’s Autopilot data silence safety critics?
It is indeed fulfilling to see a major improvement in Autopilot’s safety in the first quarter of the year despite the limited data.
However, Tesla’s decision to omit from sharing the data in Q1 2023 as it looked weak and only release it in Q1 2024 as it already presents substantial improvement shows its lack of transparency.
Such a move may adversely affect the Musk-led company’s efforts to establish customer confidence in ADAS systems.
