Autopilot pass
Tesla software blameless in fatality: US
Tesla’s driver-assistance features, known collectively as Autopilot, have been vindicated.
The Department of Transportation closed its investigation into a May 7 collision with a tractor trailer that killed a driver using Autopilot — finding no indication of a safety problem with it.
In fact, the evidence disclosed by Tesla in the probe included crucial data missing from the safety debate surrounding automated cars: crash rates.
Tesla is in a unique position to determine the precise impact of Autopilot on crash rates, more so than any other car manufacturer. That’s because while all Tesla vehicles come with the hardware necessary for Autopilot, you need a software upgrade that costs thousands of dollars for it to work.
Since buyers can add Autopilot fea- tures — including Autosteer — after purchase, this provides a perfect beforeand-after comparison.
It turns out, according to data Tesla provided to investigators, installing Autopilot reduces incidents of crashes — by 40 percent. About one-third of the mileage on the cars was logged before the upgrade to Autosteer (the most controversial component of the driving suite), while the remaining miles were accrued after installation.
Tesla’s reputation took a hit after it disclosed the driver death that triggered the US probe, andit’s no exaggeration to say it changed the way people think about self-driving cars, despite the numerous annual deaths tied to ordinary vehicles.
Consumer Reports went so far as to call on Tesla to revoke the features until changes were made. What Tesla had initially designed to be a safety feature had suddenly become a liability.
The only statistic that Tesla offered in its public defense at the time was flimsy: Teslas had been driven on Autopilot for 130 million miles before the first fatal crash, compared with a US rate for all vehicles of 94 million miles per fatality.
The one death was far from damning statistical evidence, especially considering that the Tesla Model S has the highest National Highway Traffic Safety Administration safety rating and Autopilot is only advised for highway driving.
Now— ironically, thanks to an investigation that initially hurt the company — there is finally some real data, and they add up to good news for Tesla.
“Tesla is not under any active investigation after today ,” said NHTSA spokesman Bryan Thomas. A separate probe by the National Transportation Safety Board is ongoing.
Shares of Tesla shot up 2.3 percent, to 243.76, Thursday.