Tesla's new safety report describes the autopilot in a good light, but it's not that easy

The new Tesla Vehicle Safety Report is out and things are going well for the electric car manufacturer, especially for its autopilot feature set.

Tesla's accident data for the first quarter of 2019 show that there was an accident for 2.87 million kilometers traveled in which drivers had an autopilot activated. For drivers for whom Tesla's active safety features were enabled, but not for the autopilot, the company recorded an accident for every 1.76 million miles driven. Finally, for those who drive with the autopilot and active safety features disabled, Tesla recorded an accident by 1.26 million miles traveled.

The numbers improved in the second quarter, when Tesla recorded an accident for 3.27 million miles driven with the autopilot, 2.19 million unmanned aerial miles with active safety, and 1.41 million miles without both. functions.

Tesla notes that the NHTSA data at the end of the first and second quarters represented an accident by 436,000 miles and 498,000 miles respectively.

While Tesla numbers describe autopilot as the safest driving option, it should be remembered that autopilot is most often used on motorways (read also taking Electrek), which which means that it is impossible to directly compare the autopilot miles.

The comparison between driving with or without active safety features is probably more significant. These features, including automatic emergency braking, lane departure avoidance, and the side collision warning, are meant to be activated – and probably are – in most driving scenarios.

Interestingly, comparing Tesla's data from the third quarter of 2018 to the second quarter of 2019, there is not much improvement with respect to driving with the autopilot. In the third quarter of 2018, there was an accident for 3.34 million kilometers traveled with the autopilot, which optimizes all subsequent results.

Regarding unmanned driving but with active safety activated, the situation is different and shows a steady improvement over the last three quarters. In the third quarter of 2018, there was one accident for every 1.92 million kilometers driven. The number fell to 1.58 million miles in Q4 2018, before rising to 1.76 million miles in Q1 2019 and finally to 2.19 million miles in Q2 2019. Overall, Tesla data show that It is much safer to drive with active safety features than without them. .

Tesla also shared its data on vehicle fires, but on an annual basis, as the company says some quarters have pbaded without such incidents. According to Tesla, between 2012 and 2018, there was about a Tesla vehicle fire for 170 million kilometers traveled, which compares well with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) data for all US vehicles , according to which there is a vehicle. fire for every 19 million miles traveled.