Tesla has released its most detailed study yet on the performance and relative safety of its advanced driver assistance software, just weeks after Waymo co-CEO Tekdra Mawakana called on companies to release more data at TechCrunch Disrupt.
In a new section of its website, Tesla claims that in North America, owners using the company’s fully self-driving (supervised) software drive about 5 million miles before a major crash and about 1.5 million miles before a minor crash.
This is a much lower rate than the national average based on statistics provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). According to this data, at least according to Tesla’s interpretation, people experience a major crash every 699,000 miles and a minor crash every 229,000 miles.
Tesla has been releasing so-called “Vehicle Safety Reports” quarterly for some time. However, those reports have been repeatedly criticized as insufficient. And while Tesla has released little information about the safety performance of its robotaxi trials this year in Austin, Texas, the company still has employees supervising them from the driver’s seat for safety reasons.
Waymo, currently the leading robotaxi company in the US based on vehicle deployment and customer service, released detailed data showing that its vehicles are approximately five times safer than human drivers and 12 times safer for pedestrians. At last month’s Disrupt conference, Mawakana was asked to name other companies that he feels are making roads safer.
“We don’t know who’s on that list because they don’t tell us what’s going on with their fleet,” Mawakana said, without naming Tesla.
“I think there’s a responsibility. If you’re going to put a car on the road, take the driver off the wheel, and have someone in another room watching who can take over the vehicle, you have an obligation to be transparent about what’s going on,” she added. “And my view is that if you’re not being transparent, you’re not doing what you need to do to actually earn the right to make our roads safe.”
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Waymo did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday about whether Mawakana believes Tesla’s new data is sufficient.
One of the recurring criticisms of Tesla’s quarterly safety report is its focus on Autopilot. Autopilot is a much less sophisticated driver assistance system than Fully Self-Driving (Supervised) Software (FSD) and, despite its name, does not make a car fully autonomous. Autopilot is designed for use on highways where accident rates are generally low (including minor crashes).
Tesla finally figured out all this data. A new section of Tesla’s website claims that drivers using FSD travel about 2.9 million miles per serious crash, while NHTSA data shows all drivers travel about 505,000 miles per serious crash. Tesla claims that FSD users drive about 986,000 miles per minor crash, while NHTSA data shows all drivers drive about 178,000 miles per minor crash.
Tesla also revealed for the first time how it defines these terms.
Automobile manufacturers use Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, specifically 49 CFR § 563.5. Tesla defines a “severe crash” as one involving a more severe impact in which the vehicle’s airbags “or other irreversible pyrotechnic restraint device” deploy. The company also says a crash is included in this dataset if FSD was active “at any time within five seconds leading up to the crash event.”
“This calculation ensures that the crash rate reported for FSD (supervised) captures not only crashes that occur while the system is actively controlling the vehicle, but also scenarios where the driver may disengage the system or where the system automatically shuts down shortly before a collision,” Tesla said.
Tesla says in its FAQ section that the data is updated quarterly to “reflect a rolling 12-month tally of miles driven and crashes to stay relevant to recent trends and advances.” The company says it does not release other information, such as injury rates, because it automatically collects data from vehicles.
“Instead, Tesla focuses on objective and programmatic metrics such as crash frequency and airbag deployment rates. Airbag deployment serves as a reliable proxy for crash severity,” the company wrote.
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