Tesla achieved a record level of safety with Autopilot with greater than 50% improvement in the course of the last quarter, in accordance with its safety report.
Since 2018, Tesla has been attempting to create a benchmark for its improvement in Autopilot safety by releasing a quarterly report that compares the variety of miles per accident on Autopilot versus off of Autopilot.
In October 2018, we reported on Tesla’s first safety report, which was for the third quarter 2018.
On the time, Tesla said that it registered “one accident per 3.34 million miles driven through which drivers had Autopilot engaged.”
For miles driven without Autopilot, Tesla said that registered “one accident or crash-like event for each 1.92 million miles driven.”
Over 2019, Tesla’s results were up and down, but the brand new data for the primary quarter 2020 shows a big improvement:
In the primary quarter, we registered one accident for each 4.68 million miles driven through which drivers had Autopilot engaged. For those driving without Autopilot but with our lively safety features, we registered one accident for each 1.99 million miles driven. For those driving without Autopilot and without our lively safety features, we registered one accident for each 1.42 million miles driven. By comparison, NHTSA’s most up-to-date data shows that in the USA there’s an automobile crash every 479,000 miles.
That’s a 50% improvement over the previous quarter and probably the most significant improvement yet.
Nevertheless, it also got here at a time that mileage went down. With some shutdowns in China early in Q1 and in other markets late within the quarter, Tesla saw a vital reduction in mileage in its customer fleet.
Electrek’s Take
I do know that there are other problems with Tesla’s comparison, just like the indisputable fact that Autopilot is primarily used on highways where it’s easier to build up loads of mileage without accident versus non-Autopilot mileage coming from city driving, where accidents are more likely.
So you may’t really claim that Autopilot was twice as secure as human drivers as the information show in the course of the last quarter, however it continues to be an interesting benchmark to follow with regards to seeing how the accident rate of Autopilot changes over time.
Nevertheless, you’ve got to also keep seasonality in mind, since winter months also see more accidents.
In brief, these reports are removed from perfect, but they’re still interesting to follow, especially if you happen to compared only the Autopilot data over the identical time period.
For instance, Tesla registered one accident for each 2.87 million miles driven through which drivers had Autopilot engaged in Q1 2019. The number improved to 1 accident for each 4.68 million miles driven through which drivers had Autopilot engaged in Q1 2020.
That’s a big great improvement, and while other aspects are at play, I’m sure that improvements in Autopilot are also responsible.
What do you think that? Tell us within the comment section below.