Tesla has provided some new data to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), reporting the vast majority of crashes involving Autopilot Assist Systems (ADAS). Between July 2021 and May 15 of this year, 12 auto companies reported 367 such crashes to it, NHTSA said. Among them, Tesla accounted for 273 cases. Of the 98 serious crashes, 11 resulted in serious injury or death. Another 294 incidents did not provide information on injuries.
After Tesla is Honda Motor Co with 90 crashes, Subaru disclosed 10 crashes. All the rest, including General Motors, Ford, and Toyota, cited five or fewer crashes. The data were collected under a June 2021 order requiring automakers and tech companies to report the incidents.
The move comes as some safety advocates are calling on regulators and lawmakers to do more to create stricter rules for so-called self-driving cars. Today, autonomous driving technology is becoming more and more popular with users.
“These technologies promise to improve safety, but we need to understand how these vehicles perform in the real world,” NHTSA Administrator Steve Cliff told the media ahead of the data’s release.
At the same time, NHTSA also emphasized that the data should not be used to draw safety conclusions, as some lack the contextual information needed to determine accident rates. For example, the number of vehicles equipped with ADAS systems in each manufacturer’s fleet, how often drivers use them or how many miles they drive.
Despite the limitations, NHTSA said the data will provide a better understanding of how these systems perform in the field, potential risks to pedestrians, rulemaking efforts and enforcement actions. NHTSA said the data will be updated monthly on its website.
“This will help investigators quickly identify potential defect trends that may emerge, some of which may be worth exploring further,” Cliff said.
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