Tesla Is Losing The Automation Race, Badly
Tesla ranked 12th in the industry by an impartial agency.
If you believe the hype, Tesla must be on the verge of fully self-driving cars. Musk has been going on for years about how they are only one step away from unlocking this sci-fi technology. But, when you take a moment to look at the on-the-ground reality, things are somewhat different. Not only is Tesla’s technology not that remarkable, with almost every manufacturer having something similar, but Tesla’s systems are arguably one of the most unsafe. This is precisely what recent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) testing found. They tested 14 partial automation systems, and only one passed, and it wasn’t a Tesla.
IIHS president David Harkey said in a statement, “Some drivers may feel that partial automation makes long drives easier, but there is little evidence it makes driving safer,” and “As many high-profile crashes have illustrated, it can introduce new risks when systems lack the appropriate safeguards.” As such, his organisation set out to find which systems are the most capable and the safest.
Testing mainly happened on a closed course, and numerous aspects of the systems were evaluated. This included how the system monitored the driver’s gaze and their hand positions, altered the driver to get their attention, used fail-safe procedures and removed automation features if misused, ensured lane changes were initiated by the driver, ensured the adaptive cruise control only operated when the driver is paying attention, ensured lane centring doesn’t discourage steering by the driver and how well the system performed emergency manoeuvres.
The IIHS has stated that they used versions of Tesla Autopilot and FSD prior to their December recall and update, which added more safeguards to the system to ensure misuse couldn’t happen in response to an investigation by the NHTSA into the software. However, Consumer Reports has called for the federal agency to revisit the recall, as they believe the added safeguards are insufficient, so it’s likely the newer versions of the software wouldn’t fare much better.
Okay, that’s enough preamble. Let’s see the results!
Tesla’s Autopilot ranked 12th, just ahead of FSD Beta at 13th! The only system ranked worse than them was Volvo’s. GM, Nissan, BMW, Ford, Mercedes, and Genesis all ranked above Tesla. However, these systems were given an overall safety rating of Poor or Marginal. Lexus’s Teammate with Advanced Drive came in first place and was the only system rated Acceptable.
Why was Tesla ranked so badly? It performed poorly in every test except for its automatic lane-changing ability. Meanwhile, Lexus achieved Great or Acceptable ratings in all tests, apart from driver monitoring, where it achieved a Marginal rating.
So, what does this mean for Tesla? Well, it is yet another impartial study finding Tesla’s systems are far from safe. It also adds credence to the numerous reports of Tesla’s crashing while Autopilot or FSD is engaged. This tsunami of bad press is slowly tarnishing the public perception of Tesla’s automation program, which will undoubtedly impact sales and the stock price of Tesla. In short, Tesla needs to make some serious changes to show substance to back up its extravagant claims.
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Sources: IIHS, Automotive News Europe, The Verge, Bloomberg