NHTSA data shows Tesla accounts for most driver-assistance accidents

Tesla vehicles have accounted for nearly 70% of crashes involving advanced driver-assistance systems since last June, according to federal data released Wednesday. But officials cautioned that the data is incomplete and not meant to indicate which carmaker’s system may be safest.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the data, the first of its kind, do not yet have proper context and are only meant to help identify potential fault trends and determine whether systems are improving vehicular safety. .

Steven Cliff, NHTSA Administrator, said during a media event, “I would advise caution before attempting to draw conclusions based solely on the data that we are releasing. In fact, data alone answers more questions than most questions.” can lift.”

According to the data, Tesla cars represented 273 accidents, including those involving its advanced driver-assistance system, since companies began reporting incidents about a year ago. This is out of a total of 392 accidents reported by 11 automakers and one supplier from June 2021 to May 15.

Honda was second with 90 reported accidents, followed by Subaru with 10 more. ford motor at five. All other companies reported four or fewer accidents, including Toyota four, BMW three and General Motors on two.

The data release is the first time since the government mandated introduction in June 2021 that companies report incidents involving “Level 2” advanced driver-assistance systems, which are meant to help an attentive driver, but not to replace them. These include Tesla’s systems such as Autopilot and GM’s Super Cruise.

The data does not take into account factors such as the number of vehicles that vehicle manufacturers have, the number of vehicles they have on the road, or the distance covered by those vehicles. When and how much data companies provide also varies, meaning much of it is incomplete.

For example, according to the data, there have been at least six deaths and five serious injuries in accidents involving advanced driver-assistance systems. However, whether most were injured in accidents – 294 of them – is unknown, meaning more are likely.

“This is an unprecedented effort to collect near-real-time security data associated with these advanced technologies,” Cliff said. “Understanding the story that the data tells will take time for most of NHTSA’s work, but this is a story we need to hear.”

according to The Associated PressTesla has more vehicles with partially automated systems on U.S. roads than other automakers — about 830,000, dating from the 2014 model year. And it collects real-time data from vehicles online, so it has a very fast reporting system. This is compared to GM, which has reportedly sold more than 34,000 vehicles since the introduction of its “Super Cruise” system in 2017.

The company’s aggressive expansion of advanced driver-assistance systems has led NHTSA to intensify its attention and investigation into Tesla, including Prototyping Software for Tesla Owners,

In February, Tesla said it will miss the software 53,822 of its Model S, X, 3 and Y vehicles in the US to eliminate a feature that lets cars automatically roll past a stop sign. The cars featured a relatively new version of the company’s full self-driving beta software.

The program gives Tesla drivers early access to new features that are not yet fully debugged, including “autosteer on city streets,” which allows drivers to turn the steering wheel with their hands without the complicated and congested Allows you to navigate automatically in crowded urban environments. Despite the name, the full self-driving beta doesn’t make Tesla vehicles autonomous.

NHTSA also released a separate report on high-level systems, known as automated driving systems, which can largely include self-driving vehicles. Most of these systems are still being tested and are not available to the public, but some companies such as alphabetical Cruise, which is majority owned by Waymo and GM, has opened operations to the public.

NHTSA says 130 automatic driving system crashes have been reported from June 2021 to May 15. Waymo at 62 had the most. It was followed by Transdev Alternative Services at 34 and Cruise at 23 (excluding the 16 crashes reported separately by GM). Twenty-five companies reported accidents. These range from traditional automakers to Apple, which has Have reportedly been working on a vehicle like this for years.

The agency plans to issue monthly data updates regarding the system.

– CNBC Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.