Over 400 crashes reported since last summer were caused by ‘self-driving, driver-assist technologies’

According to data released by American safety regulators, recorded approximately 400 crashes involving vehicles equipped with automated driver-assist systems, including 273 Teslas. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warned against comparing different automakers using the statistics, claiming that they were not weighted based on the volume of each manufacturer’s vehicles using the systems or their mileage.

The crashes were reported from July 2021 to May 15, 2021. According to CNBC, when Tesla’s vehicles crashed, Autopilot, ‘full self-driving’, traffic-aware cruise control, and other driver-assist technologies with some steering and speed control were all in use. The systems are in approximately 830,000 of the corporation’s automobiles.

In June 2021, the NHTSA ordered more than 100 automakers and autonomous vehicle technology companies to report serious crashes as soon as they become aware of them and to reveal less serious crashes by the 15th of the following month. The organization is analyzing the functionality of the systems to see if new restrictions are necessary.

According to the New York Times, the organization’s administrator, Steven Cliff, stated that ‘NHTSA will be better equipped to identify any emerging hazards or trends and learn more about how these technologies are operating in the real world’ as more data is collected. Tesla’s crash rate may be high because it uses telematics to track its vehicles and obtain real-time crash data. Because other automakers lack this capability, their submissions may be delayed or incomplete, according to the NHTSA.

Tesla was responsible for nearly 70% of the 392 crashes reported by the twelve automakers. Despite the fact that the Austin, Texas-based automaker refers to its technologies as Autopilot and ‘Full Self-Driving’, it insists that drivers must always be prepared to take control of the vehicles. Furthermore, the NHTSA reported that six people were seriously injured and five people died in crashes involving driver-assist systems.

According to the NHTSA, manufacturers were not required to keep track of how many vehicles were equipped with the devices, how far those vehicles traveled, or when the systems were used. Those figures, according to an agency official, are not currently quantifiable.

However, the NHTSA may later search for such information. In the meantime, thanks to the additional data, it is now able to learn about accidents much faster than in the past. The government stated that it is currently using crash data to look for trends and discuss them with the companies.