Tesla automation gets scrutiny over crashes

DETROIT — The government will soon release data on collisions involving vehicles with autonomous or partially automated driving systems that will likely single out Tesla for a disproportionately high number of such crashes.

In coming days, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to issue figures it has been gathering for nearly a year. The agency said in a separate report last week that it had documented more than 200 crashes involving Teslas that were using Autopilot, “Full Self-Driving,” Traffic-Aware Cruise Control or some other partially automated Tesla system.

Tesla’s figure and its crash rate per 1,000 vehicles was substantially higher than the corresponding numbers for other automakers that provided such data to Associated Press ahead of the NHTSA’s release. The number of Tesla collisions was revealed as part of an NHTSA investigation of Teslas on Autopilot that had crashed into emergency and other vehicles stopped along roadways.

Tesla does have many more vehicles with partly automated systems on U.S. roads than most other automakers — roughly 830,000, dating to the 2014 model year. And it collects real-time data from vehicles, so it has a much faster reporting system.

In a June 2021 order, the NHTSA told more than 100 automakers and automated vehicle tech companies to report serious crashes within one day of learning about them and to disclose less-serious crashes by the 15th day of the following month. The agency is assessing how the systems perform, whether they endanger public safety and whether new regulations may be needed.

A message was left seeking comment from Tesla, which has disbanded its media relations department. The NHTSA wouldn’t comment on the data Tuesday.

Tesla has said that Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” cannot drive themselves, and that drivers should be ready to intervene at all times. But in documents released last week, NHTSA questioned whether human drivers can intervene fast enough to prevent crashes.