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DETROIT — Automakers have reported nearly 400 vehicle crashes with partially automated driver assistance systems, including 273 involving Teslas, according to statistics released Wednesday by US safety regulators.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration cautioned automakers against using numbers to compare, and said that not every manufacturer that uses the systems weights by the number of vehicles or how many miles those vehicles have traveled.
Automakers reported crashes from July last year to May 15, at the direction of the agency, which is the first to thoroughly examine such accidents.
“As we collect more data, NHTSA will be able to better identify emerging risks or trends and learn more about how these technologies are performing in the real world,” said Steven Cliff, director of the agency.
Tesla’s accidents occurred while the vehicles were using Autopilot, “Full Self-Driving”, Traffic Sensitive Cruise Control, or other driver assistance systems with some control over speed and steering. The company has about 830,000 vehicles on the roads with the systems.
Of the dozen automakers to report an accident, Honda was the closest, with 90. Honda says it has about six million vehicles with such systems on U.S. roads. Subaru followed suit with the 10, and all other automakers reported five or less.
In a June 2021 order, NHTSA told more than 100 automakers and automated vehicle technology companies to report serious accidents within one day of learning and less serious accidents by the 15th of the following month. The agency is assessing how the systems are working and whether new regulations are needed.
NHTSA also said five people were killed and six seriously injured in accidents involving driver assistance systems.
Tesla’s accident rate may also be high because it uses telematics to monitor its vehicles and receive real-time crash reports. NHTSA said other automakers do not have such capability, so their reports may come more slowly or crashes may not be reported at all. A message was left asking Tesla for comment.
Tesla’s accidents accounted for about 70% of the 392 reported by a dozen automakers. Although the Austin, Texas, automaker calls its systems Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving,” the vehicles cannot drive themselves, and drivers must always be ready to intervene, he says.
NHTSA said manufacturers are not required to report how many vehicles they have on roads with the systems, or how far those vehicles have traveled, or when the systems have been used. An agency official said at the moment these numbers are not measurable.
However, NHTSA may request such information at a later time. Meanwhile, the new data allowed him to find crashes much faster than before. The agency is currently using crash data to look for trends and discuss them with companies.
Officials said NHTSA is already using the data to recall, open investigations and provide information for current investigations. They also said it’s difficult to find out how many drivers are actually using the technology.
“This will help our researchers quickly identify potential defect trends that may arise,” Cliff said. Said. “This data will also help us identify crashes we want to investigate and provide more insight into how people in other vehicles interact with the vehicles.”
Honda says it’s packaging the systems to sell more, which could affect their numbers. “The population of vehicles that could theoretically be involved in a reportable event is much larger than the population of vehicles produced by automakers with a less aggressive distribution strategy,” the company said.
In addition, reports submitted to NHTSA are based on unverified customer statements about whether automated systems are working in the event of a crash. Honda said these crashes may not be eligible to be reported to NHTSA once more data is gathered.
The Automotive Innovation Alliance, which represents most automakers, said the data collected by NHTSA alone is not sufficient to assess the safety of automated vehicle systems.
NHTSA’s order also covered companies using fully autonomous vehicles, with 25 reporting a total of 130 accidents. Google took the lead with its spin-off Waymo 62, followed by Transdev Alternative Services with 34 and Cruise LLC, controlled by General Motors, with 23.
Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s autonomous vehicle unit, said it has more than 700 autonomous vehicles in its fleet. The company operates a fully autonomous ride-hailing service in Arizona and is testing one in California. The company said that all crashes occurred at low speeds and only two had airbags inflated.
In 108 accidents involving fully autonomous vehicles, no injuries were reported and only one serious injury occurred. In most of the accidents, the vehicles were hit from behind.
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