Tesla drivers are the most accident-prone, according to an analysis of 30 car brands. It found Tesla drivers are involved in more accidents than drivers of any other brand. Tesla drivers had 23.54 accidents per 1,000 drivers. Ram (22.76) and Subaru (20.90) were the only other brands with more than 20 accidents per 1,000 drivers for every brand. It should be noted that this study did not determine cause. This study coincides with Tesla recalling more than 2 million vehicles due to a safety issue related to its Autopilot software — specifically, a feature called Autosteer, which is part of the driver-assistance system. The recall affects nearly all the cars Tesla has sold in the United States.
Tesla is the world’s most valuable automotive company and its owner Elon Musk is richest man in the world. Musk envisioned fully self-driving and has pushed the envelope on this technology. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statement says that, “in certain circumstances when Autosteer is engaged, the prominence and scope of the feature’s controls may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse of the … advanced driver-assistance feature.”
The recall is aimed at fixing the system that is supposed to ensure drivers are paying attention when they use Autopilot. Tesla’s auto-driving feature doesn’t just take over and let the person in the driver’s seat read a book or take a nap. The driver must be prepared to intervene if an issue arises that the feature can’t handle. There are reports that dome drivers rely too heavily on this feature and as a result accidents occur. The Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation over a year ago after more than a dozen crashes happened while Tesla’s Autopilot software was engaged. The NHTSA reviewed 956 crashes for which Autopilot was alleged to have been in use. The agency then focused on 322 Autopilot-related accidents that included frontal collisions and collisions from potential unintended disengagement of the system.
The Washington Post reported that the recall – the largest in Tesla’s 20-year history – was condemned by numerous experts. The experts argue that the new warnings and alerts aren’t likely to solve Autopilot’s fundamental flaw. In the opinion of many of the experts the fault lies in Tesla failing to limit where drivers can turn the Autopilot on. Matthew Wansley is a professor at Cardozo School of Law said “What a missed opportunity.” Wansley went on to say “I have yet to see Tesla, or anyone defending Tesla, come up with an argument for why we should be letting people use [Autopilot] on roads that could have cross traffic. That’s how a lot of these crashes are happening.”
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